Beloff last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Beloff

A Russian habitational name derived from a placename.

Beloff, 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 Beloff surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Beloff in America

Beloff is the 82908th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Beloff surname appeared 227 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 Beloff.

We can also compare 2010 data for Beloff 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank82908752199.73%
Count227239-5.15%
Proportion per 100k0.080.09-11.76%

The history of the last name Beloff

The surname BELOFF originated in the Russian Empire during the 18th century. It is believed to have derived from the Russian word "bel", meaning white, and the suffix "-off", which was commonly used to form patronymic surnames. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone with a pale complexion or white hair.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the BELOFF surname can be found in the records of the Russian Imperial Army from the late 1700s. A certain Ivan Beloff was listed as a lieutenant in the cavalry regiment stationed in St. Petersburg during the reign of Catherine the Great.

During the 19th century, the BELOFF name gained prominence in the fields of academia and literature. Mikhail Beloff (1836-1903) was a renowned Russian historian and author, known for his scholarly works on the Napoleonic Wars and their impact on Russian society.

In the early 20th century, a prominent figure bearing the BELOFF surname was Nathalie Beloff (1891-1972), a Russian-born British writer and journalist. She gained recognition for her literary works and her coverage of World War II as a war correspondent.

Another notable individual with the BELOFF surname was Max Beloff (1913-1999), a British historian and political scientist. He served as the Principal of the University of Buckingham and authored several books on British politics and history.

During the Soviet era, the BELOFF name was associated with dissidents and human rights activists. One such figure was Vladimir Beloff (1928-1986), a Soviet physicist and dissident who spent several years in labor camps for his criticism of the Soviet regime.

While the BELOFF surname originated in Russia, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly through emigration and diaspora communities. Today, variations of the name can be found in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, among others.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Beloff

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

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 Beloff was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only93.83%213
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only0.00%0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races(S)%(S)
Hispanic Origin4.85%11

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 Beloff has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White93.83%97.49%-3.83%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander0.00%0.00%0.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0.00%0.00%
Two or More Races(S)%(S)%(S)%
Hispanic4.85%(S)%(S)%

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

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

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