Schmidt is a common German occupational surname derived from the German word "Schmied" meaning "blacksmith" and/or "metalworker". This surname is the German equivalent of "Smith" in the English-speaking world.
Schmidt German immigrants migrated to England and developed an understanding of English culture. Schmidt was commonly used in the English world as "Smith". Travellers would grow accustomed to the English, Irish, and Scottish change of lifestyle and eventually their names also changed. German migration to England was very common.
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 64.9% of all known bearers of the surname Schmidt were residents of Germany (frequency 1:113), 18.2% of the United States (1:1,809), 3.7% of Brazil (1:5,058), 1.7% of Canada (1:1,936), 1.5% of Austria (1:503), 1.3% of Denmark (1:398), 1.1% of South Africa (1:4,469), 1.1% of Argentina (1:3,635) and 1.0% of France (1:6,167).
In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than the national average (1:113) in the following states:
- 1. Thuringia (1:60)
- 2. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1:65)
- 3. Saxony-Anhalt (1:66)
- 4. Brandenburg (1:70)
- 5. Hesse (1:84)
- 6. Saarland (1:87)
- 7. Saxony (1:92)
- 8. Schleswig-Holstein (1:95)
- 9. Lower Saxony (1:110)
- 10. Rhineland-Palatinate (1:112)
In Denmark, the frequency of the surname was higher than the national average (1:398) only in one region:[1]
- 1. Southern Denmark (1:215)
A–G
- Alexander Schmidt (physiologist) (1831–1894), Baltic German physiologist
- Alfred Schmidt (weightlifter) (1898–1972), Estonian weightlifter and Olympic medalist
- Alica Schmidt (born 1998), German runner
- Andreas Schmidt (baritone), born 1960, German classical singer
- Andreas Schmidt (footballer), born 1973, German footballer, twin brother of Oliver Schmidt
- Annie M. G. Schmidt (1911–1995), Dutch writer
- Arlo Schmidt (1931-2022), American politician and auctioneer
- Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), German author and translator
- Arthur Schmidt (disambiguation)
- Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), Estonian-German astronomer, inventor of the Schmidt camera
- Bill Schmidt (baseball) (born 1959), American baseball executive
- Boss Schmidt (1880–1932), American major league catcher
- Brian Schmidt (born 1967), U.S.-Australian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate
- Brian L. Schmidt (born 1962), music composer for video games and pinball games
- Bryan Schmidt (born 1981), an American ice hockey player
- Bryan Schmidt (footballer) (born 1995), an Argentine footballer
- Bryan Thomas Schmidt (born 1969), American writer and editor
- Burghart Schmidt (1942–2022), German philosopher
- Burghart Schmidt (historian) (born 1962), German historian
- Carl Schmidt (chemist) (1822–1894), Baltic German chemist
- Carl Friedrich Schmidt (disambiguation)
- Carmela Schmidt (born 1962), East German freestyle swimmer
- Carolina Schmidt (born 1967), Chilean politician and businesswoman
- Casper Schmidt (1842–1889), American politician
- Charles J. Schmidt (1907–1966), American politician
- Christian Schmidt (born 1957), German politician
- Clarke Schmidt (born 1996), American baseball player
- Colton Schmidt (born 1990), American football player
- Cornelia Schmidt-Liermann (born 1963), Argentine politician
- Cristian Schmidt (born 1982), Argentine judoka
- Dagmar Schmidt (born 1973), German politician
- Damián Schmidt (born 1992), Argentine retired footballer
- David Schmidt (disambiguation), several people
- Diane Grob Schmidt, American chemist
- Earl W. Schmidt (born 1936), American jurist and politician
- Eduard Oscar Schmidt (1823–1886), German zoologist and phycologist
- Erhard Schmidt (1876–1959), German mathematician
- Eric Schmidt (born 1955), executive chairman, former CEO, of Google
- Erich Schmidt (archaeologist) (1897–1964), German archaeologist
- Erich Schmidt (historian) (1853–1913) German historian of literature
- Ferenc Schmidt (1941–2011), Hungarian politician and MP
- Firmin Martin Schmidt (1918–2005), American Roman Catholic bishop
- Francis Schmidt (1885–1944), American college baseball coach
- Franklin J. W. Schmidt (1901–1935), American naturalist, brother of Karl Patterson
- Franz Schmidt (composer) (1874–1939), Austrian composer
- Frederick Schmidt (born 1984), British actor
- Frederick D. Schmidt (1932–2003), American politician
- Frederick W. Schmidt (1932–2003), American theologian and Episcopal priest
- Friedrich August Schmidt (lexicographer) (Georg Friedrich August Schmidt; 1785–1858), German clergyman, bibliographer and lexicographer
- Friedrich August Schmidt (engraver) (1787–1855), German engraver, lithographer and painter
- Friedrich August Schmidt (painter) (1796–1866), German painter and lithographer
- Friedrich August von Schmidt (1844–1907), German judge and jurist
- Frithjof Schmidt (born 1953), German politician
- Fritz Schmidt (disambiguation)
- Gavin Schmidt, Climatologist
- Gerhard Schmidt (art historian) (1924–2010), professor of the history of art
- Gerhard Schmidt (crystallographer) (1919–1971), organic chemist and chemical crystallographer
- Gerhard Carl Schmidt (1865–1949), German chemist
- Gunter Schmidt (born 1938), German sexologist
- Günter Schmidt (arachnologist) (1926–2016)
- Gunther Schmidt (born 1939), German mathematician
H–L
- Hans Schmidt (disambiguation)
- Hans Christian Schmidt (born 1953), Danish politician
- Hans-Thilo Schmidt (1888–1943), German spy for France in the 1930s
- Harald Schmidt (born 1957), German television entertainer
- Harry Schmidt (Air National Guard), US Air National Guard pilot
- Harry Schmidt (USMC) (1886–1968), US Marine Corps general
- Harvey Schmidt (1929–2018), American composer
- Heide Schmidt (born 1948), Austrian politician
- Heinrich Schmidt (footballer) (1912–1988), German footballer
- Heinrich Schmidt (philosopher) (1874-1935), German archivist, naturalist, philosopher, professor and disciple of Ernst Haeckel
- Heinrich Schmidt (physician) (1912–2000), medic at Majdanek extermination camp
- Heinrich Schmidt (politician) (1902–1960), NSDAP politician
- Heinrich Julian Schmidt (1818–1886), German journalist
- Helle Thorning-Schmidt (born 1966), Danish Prime Minister
- Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015), German chancellor
- Helmut Schmidt (footballer) (born 1949), German football player
- Helmut Schmidt (parapsychologist), German parapsychologist
- Herbert B. Schmidt (born 1931), German economist
- Howard A. Schmidt (1949–2017), American computer security specialist
- Irmin Schmidt (born 1937), German rock keyboard player
- Isaac Jacob Schmidt (1779–1847), Dutch/Russian linguist and academician
- Jan Schmidt (director), Czech film director
- Jacques Schmidt (1933–1996), French costume designer
- Jason Schmidt (born 1973), American baseball player
- Jean Schmidt (born 1951), American politician
- Jean Dolores Schmidt (born 1919), American nun better known as Sister Jean
- Jessica Schmidt (born 1979), German chess grandmaster
- Joe Schmidt (American football) (born 1932), American football player
- Johann Anton Schmidt (1823–1905), German botanist
- Johann Kaspar Schmidt (1806–1856), German philosopher known as Max Stirner
- Johannes Schmidt (biologist) (1877–1933), Danish biologist
- Johannes Schmidt (linguist) (1843–1901), German linguist
- Joost Schmidt (1893–1948), teacher at the Bauhaus
- Jordan Schmidt (born 1989), American music producer
- Josef Schmidt (rugby union) (born 1965), New Zealand rugby union coach
- Josef Friedrich Schmidt (1871–1948), German board game inventor
- Joseph Schmidt (1904–1942), singer, actor
- Joseph Hermann Schmidt (1804–1852), professor of Obstetrics in Berlin
- Joshua Schmidt (born 1986), American Army Iraq War Veteran
- Julius Schmidt (disambiguation)
- Justin O. Schmidt (entomologist), creator of the index of insect sting pain
- Jürgen Schmidt (born 1941), German speed skater
- Karl August von Schmidt (1840–1929), German geophysicist
- Karl Patterson Schmidt (1890–1957), Chief Curator of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History
- Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884–1976), German painter
- Katherine Schmidt (1899–1978), American artist
- Kendall Schmidt (born 1990), American actor, singer
- Kurt Schmidt (1891–1945), German Lieutenant-General during the Second World War
- Luís Eduardo Schmidt (born 1979), Brazilian football player
M–Z
- Maarten Schmidt (1929–2022), Dutch-American astronomer
- Martin Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Max Schmidt (1818–1901), German painter
- Max Schmidt (Waffen-SS) (1920–2002), commandant Fürstengrube subcamp of Auschwitz, March 1944 – January 1945
- Michael Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Mike Schmidt (born 1949), American baseball player, third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies
- Milt Schmidt (1918–2017), Canadian hockey player
- Monika Schmidt, Australian judge
- Nate Schmidt (born 1991), American ice hockey player
- Noémie Schmidt (born 1990), Swiss actress
- Olaf Schmidt (born 1962), German glider aerobatic pilot
- Ole Schmidt (1928–2010), Danish conductor and composer
- Oliver Schmidt, born 1973, German footballer, twin brother of Andreas Schmidt (above)
- Olle Schmidt (born 1949), Swedish politician
- Oscar Schmidt (born 1958), Brazilian basketball player
- Otto Schmidt (1891–1956), Soviet scientist
- Otto Schmidt (aviator) (1885-1944), German flying ace
- Paul Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Peter Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Petra Schmidt (born 1963), German soprano
- Pyotr Schmidt (1867–1906, Russian revolutionary of 1905
- Renate Schmidt (born 1943), German Federal Minister for family affairs
- Rob Schmidt (born 1965), American film director and writer
- Roman Schmidt (1893–1959), Austro-Hungarian flying ace
- Roman Schmidt (Ukrainian politician) (born 1951), Ukrainian zoologist and politician
- Sophie Schmidt, Canadian soccer player
- Stefan Schmidt (born 1981), German politician
- Steve Schmidt, American campaign strategist and public relations expert for the U.S. Republican Party
- Thomas Schmidt (footballer)
- Tim Schmidt (born 1986), Australian rules footballer
- Tony Schmidt (born 1980), German racing driver
- Torge Schmidt (born 1988), German politician
- Torsten Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Ulla Schmidt (born 1949), German Federal Minister for health
- Uwe Schmidt (born 1966), German politician
- Vasili Schmidt (1886–1938), Soviet politician and statesman
- Vera Schmidt (born 1982), Hungarian singer-songwriter
- Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor
- Walter Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Wilhelm Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- William Schmidt (disambiguation), multiple people
- Wilma Schmidt (1926–2022), German operatic soprano
- Wolfgang M. Schmidt (born 1933), mathematician
In fiction
- Hildegarde Schmidt, character in Murder on the Orient Express
- Mika Schmidt, playable character in Genshin Impact
- Winston Schmidt, character from New Girl
- Shirley Schmidt, American lawyer played by Candice Bergen in Boston Legal
- Mike Schmidt, security guard played by Josh Hutcherson in Five Nights at Freddy's