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

Assaf, 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 Assaf surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Assaf in America

Assaf is the 21830th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Assaf surname appeared 1,191 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 Assaf.

We can also compare 2010 data for Assaf 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 Assaf

The surname ASSAF has its origins in the Middle East, specifically in the Arabic-speaking regions. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, around the 9th or 10th century AD. The name is derived from the Arabic word "asaf," which means "sorrow" or "regret," and it may have initially been a descriptive surname given to someone who embodied those qualities or had experienced significant sorrow or regret in their life.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the ASSAF surname can be found in historical manuscripts and documents from the region, such as the chronicles of Arab historians and travelers. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the name, some scholars suggest that it may have originated in areas like modern-day Syria, Lebanon, or Palestine.

In the 12th century, there is a record of a prominent scholar and poet named Abu Bakr al-Assaf, who lived in Aleppo, Syria. He was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and poetry. Another notable individual bearing the ASSAF surname was Najm al-Din al-Assaf, a 13th-century mathematician and astronomer from Damascus, who made significant contributions to the study of astronomy and the development of astronomical instruments.

During the Ottoman Empire era, which spanned from the 13th to the early 20th century, the ASSAF surname was found across various regions under Ottoman rule, including parts of the Levant, Anatolia, and the Balkans. One notable figure from this period was Ibrahim al-Assaf, a 17th-century Ottoman statesman and diplomat who served as the Grand Vizier (chief minister) under Sultan Mehmed IV.

In more recent history, the ASSAF surname has been associated with various individuals in different fields. For example, Ferid Murad, an American physician and pharmacologist of Palestinian descent, was born in 1936 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for his discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system. Another notable figure is Walid Al-Assaf, a Syrian businessman and philanthropist who founded the Al-Assaf Foundation, which supports education and cultural initiatives in the Middle East.

It is worth noting that the ASSAF surname has also been found in other parts of the world, likely due to migration and diaspora communities, but its roots can be traced back to the Middle East and the Arabic-speaking regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Assaf

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

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 Assaf 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 Assaf 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 Assaf was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Assaf, 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!