Rote (surname)



The Rote surname is of German origin. British Surnames and Surname Profiles indicates that fewer than 0.001% of the populations of the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia have this surname.

According to the for-profit site, House of Names, the name originated in Bavaria, probably as a nickname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion. House of Names identifies a number of names (e.g. Roth, Rothe) as being related, but other sources are more tentative in making these connections.

Ancestry.com provides the information that in the United States, the name Rote was concentrated primarily in Pennsylvania at the time of the 1820 census. The number of immigrants to the United States appears to have been quite small, with most departing either Norway or Germany; Ancestry.com identifies these immigrants as having arrived between 1864 and 1887, with most arriving in 1874. There were a total of 69 US Civil War veterans with the Rote surname, 65 for the Union, 4 for the Confederacy.