# Richter (surname)

Richter is a surname of German origin (Richter is German for "judge").

## Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 71.2% of all known bearers of the surname Richter were residents of Germany (frequency 1:350), 13.0% of the United States (1:8,649), 2.2% of Brazil (1:28,857), 2.2% of South Africa (1:7,686), 1.8% of Austria (1:1,460), 1.3% of the Czech Republic (1:2,621) and 1.1% of Australia (1:6,626).
In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:350) in the following states:
* Saxony (1:80)
* Brandenburg (1:121)
* Saxony-Anhalt (1:132)
* Thuringia (1:250)
* Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1:279)

## People

* Aemilius Ludwig Richter (1808–1864), German jurist
* Albert Richter (1912–1940), German track-cyclist and world champion
* Andy Richter (born 1966), American actor, writer, comedian, and late-night talk-show announcer
* Anton Karl Richter (1690–1763), Austrian court organist, son of Ferdinand Tobias Richter
* August Gottlieb Richter (1742–1812), German surgeon
* Bo Richter (born 2000), American football player
* Bruno Richter (1914–1993), German military officer
* Burton Richter (1931–2018), Nobel Prize-winning American physicist
* Charles Francis Richter (1900–1985), American seismologist
* Christoph Richter (1596–1669), mayor of Stettin, Swedish Pomerania, from 1659 to 1669
* Claus Richter (born 1948), German journalist
* Conrad Richter (1890–1968), American Pulitzer Prize–winning Western novelist
* Daniel Richter (actor) (born 1939), American mime, actor and choreographer
* Daniel Richter (artist) (born 1962), German artist
* Daniel Richter (singer), Canadian singer, member of the band Eleven Past One
* Daniel K. Richter, American historian
* Dora Richter (1892–unknown), German transgender woman
* Emma Richter (1888–1956), German paleontologist
* Eugen Richter (1838–1906), German politician
* Ferdinand Tobias Richter (1651–1711), Austrian baroque-music composer and organist
* Frank Richter Sr. (1837–1910), Bohemia-born rancher and entrepreneur in the U.S. and Canada
* Frank Richter Jr. (1910–1977), Canadian politician
* Frank-Jürgen Richter (born 1967), German entrepreneur and chairman of Swiss think-tank Horasis
* Franz Xaver Richter (1709–1789), Czech composer
* Gerhard Richter (born 1932), German painter
* Guri Richter (1917–1995), Danish film actress
* Gustav Richter (artist) (1823–1884), German painter
* Gustav Richter (1913–1982), German Nazi official
* Hans Richter (artist) (1888–1976), German Dada painter, film producer and art historian
* Hans Richter (actor) (1919–2008), German actor and director
* Hans Richter (conductor) (1843–1916), German conductor
* Heinz Richter (engineer) (1909–1971), German engineer and author
* Heinz Richter (cyclist) (born 1947)
* Heinz A. Richter (born 1939), German historian
* Henjo Richter (born 1963), German guitarist
* Henry Constantine Richter (1821–1902), British zoological illustrator
* Henry James Richter (1772–1857), English artist and philosopher
* Hieronymous Theodor Richter (1824–1898), German chemist
* Ilja Richter (born 1952), German actor, singer and television presenter
* Jan Richter, Czech ice hockey player
* Jascha Richter (born 1963), Danish singer-songwriter of the band Michael Learns To Rock
* Jason James Richter (born 1980), American actor
* Jean Paul Richter (1847–1937) German art historian
* Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (1763–1825), German novelist and author
* Jeremias Benjamin Richter (1762–1807), German chemist who developed the stoichiometry theory
* Joey Richter, American actor
* Johann Gottfried Ohnefalsch Richter (1703–1765), German parson and natural theologian
* Johann Moritz Richter (1620–1667), German architect and engraver
* John C. Richter, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma
* Johnny Richter, American musician, member of the rock group Kottonmouth Kings
* Johan Richter (inventor) (1901–1997), Norwegian-Swedish inventor and industrialist
* Johannes Richter (born 1993), German basketball player
* Josef Karl Richter (1880–1933), a Bohemian composer and military bandmaster
* Kamila B. Richter (born 1976), Czech-German media artist
* Karel Richard Richter (1912–1941), German spy
* Karl Richter (conductor) (1926–1981), German conductor
* Karl Marius Richter [de] (born 1987), aka Perverz, German rapper
* Karl W. Richter (1942–1967), American aviator
* Les Richter (1930–2010), American football player
* Ludwig Richter (1803–1884), German painter and etcher
* Martin Richter (born 1977), Czech ice hockey player
* Martinus Richter (born 1968), German orthopedist
* Matthew Richter (born 1968), American arts producer
* Max Richter, German-born British classical composer
* Michael M. Richter (1938–2020), German mathematician
* Mike Richter (born 1966), American ice hockey player
* Milan Richter (born 1948), Slovak writer, playwright, translator and publisher
* Mischa Richter (1910–2001), Russian-born American cartoonist and artist
* Owen Von Richter (born 1975), Canadian medley swimmer
* Pat Richter (born 1941), American football player, athletic director of the UW–Madison
* Paul Richter (1895–1961), Austrian actor
* Pavel Richter, Czech ice hockey player
* Robert Richter (disambiguation), several people
* Ronald Richter (1909–1991), Austrian scientist, head of the Argentine nuclear-fusion Huemul Project
* Rossa Matilda Richter (1860–1937), English aerialist and actress, first human cannonball
* Roy Robert Richter (1915–2007), Australian oilman and World War II pilot
* Roy Richter (died 1983), American auto racer, inventor, and businessman
* Sergey Richter (born 1989), Israeli Olympic sport shooter
* Simona Richter (born 1972), Romanian judoka athlete
* Stacey Richter (born 1965), American writer of short fiction
* Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997), Soviet pianist
* Travis Richter, American musician; guitarist of rock band From First to Last
* Ulrike Hoffmann-Richter (1958–2024), German psychiatrist