Kranz (surname)

Kranz is a German language-derived surname; in German the word means wreath.

Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 61.6% of all known bearers of the surname Kranz were residents of Germany (frequency 1:4,603), 26.3% of the United States (1:48,490), 2.3% of Australia (1:37,147), 2.2% of Brazil (1:326,176), 1.9% of Austria (1:16,156), 1.7% of Poland (1:79,683) and 1.0% of Canada (1:129,570).

In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:4,603) in the following regions:
 * 1. Rhineland-Palatinate (1:2,177)
 * 2. Berlin (1:3,169)
 * 3. Hesse (1:3,245)
 * 4. Saxony-Anhalt (1:3,515)
 * 5. Thuringia (1:3,716)
 * 6. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1:3,798)
 * 7. Brandenburg (1:4,147)
 * 8. North Rhine-Westphalia (1:4,315)

People

 * Ashley Kranz, winner of CMT Canada's "CMT Casting Call 2007"
 * Bernhard Kranz, German highly decorated Hauptmann der Reserve in the Wehrmacht during World War II
 * Carl Frederick Kranz, German-born minister and teacher, founder of the German Evangelical Proseminary, founding president of Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois
 * Fran Kranz, American actor
 * Gene Kranz, American NASA flight director and manager
 * George Kranz, German dance music singer and percussionist
 * Hugo Kranz, German-born businessman and political figure in Ontario, Canada
 * Jacob ben Wolf Kranz, Jewish Lithuania (Belarus)-born preacher (maggid)
 * James P. Kranz Jr., American lawyer
 * Ken Kranz, American NFL football player
 * Markus Kranz, German football coach and former player
 * Paula Dean Broadwell (née Kranz), American writer, academic, and anti-terrorism professional
 * Stanislaus Kranz, birth name of Stanley Cortez, an American cinematographer
 * Walther Kranz, German Classical philologist and historian of philosophy

Places

 * Kranz Peak, a peak in the Queen Maud Mountains
 * Kręcko (German: Kranz), a village in western Poland
 * Kranzburg, town in South Dakota

Other

 * Frankfurter Kranz, a cake specialty believed to originate from Frankfurt am Main, Germany
 * Kranz anatomy, a characteristic leaf anatomy often possessed by C4 plants
 * Professor Kranz tedesco di Germania, a 1978 Italian comedy film