Find out how popular the last name Adelson is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Adelson.

Adelson, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Adelson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Adelson in America

Adelson is the 19774th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Adelson surname appeared 1,361 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Adelson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Adelson to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Adelson

The surname Adelson is of German origin, derived from the personal name Adel, which means "noble" or "aristocratic" in German. The name likely emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, and was initially used as a descriptive name for someone of noble or distinguished lineage.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Adelson can be found in the German city of Augsburg, where a merchant named Hans Adelson is mentioned in a document from the year 1487. This suggests that the name was already well-established in parts of southern Germany by the late 15th century.

The Adelson name has also been associated with various place names throughout Germany, such as Adelsheim, a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, which may have contributed to the development of the surname in certain regions.

In the 16th century, a notable figure named Christoph Adelson (1522-1592) gained prominence as a Protestant theologian and reformer in Saxony. He played a role in the religious debates of the time and was a contemporary of Martin Luther.

Another historical figure with the Adelson surname was Johann Adelson (1640-1707), a German composer and organist who lived and worked in Dresden during the Baroque era. His compositions for organ and other instruments were widely performed in his lifetime.

In the 19th century, a German-born businessman named Joseph Adelson (1812-1890) emigrated to the United States and became a successful merchant in New York City. He was involved in the import-export trade and helped establish trade routes between America and Europe.

One of the most well-known individuals with the Adelson surname in modern times was Sheldon Adelson (1933-2021), an American business magnate and philanthropist. He founded the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, one of the largest casino and resort companies in the world, and was also a prominent political donor and supporter of the Republican Party.

Despite its German origins, the surname Adelson has since spread to various other parts of the world, including Israel, where it is fairly common among Jewish families of German or Eastern European descent.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Adelson

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Adelson.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Adelson was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Adelson has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Adelson was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Adelson, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!