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

Burstyn, 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 Burstyn surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Burstyn in America

Burstyn is the 100791st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Burstyn surname appeared 179 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 Burstyn.

We can also compare 2010 data for Burstyn 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 Burstyn

The surname BURSTYN has its origins in the Jewish community of Eastern Europe, particularly in what is now Poland and Ukraine. It likely emerged during the 13th or 14th century, a time when many Jews were adopting hereditary surnames.

The name BURSTYN may have derived from the Yiddish word "burstn," meaning to break or burst, possibly indicating an occupation or characteristic associated with the family's earliest bearers. Alternatively, it could have roots in a place name, though the exact location is uncertain.

Early records mentioning the BURSTYN surname are scarce, but it does appear in a few historical documents from the 16th and 17th centuries in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One notable figure was Shmuel BURSTYN, a respected rabbi and Talmudic scholar who lived in the city of Lublin in the late 16th century.

As the Jewish diaspora spread across Eastern Europe and beyond, the BURSTYN name traveled with them. In the 19th century, we find examples of the surname in various regions, including Abraham BURSTYN, a merchant from Odessa, Russia (born circa 1820), and Leah BURSTYN, a writer and activist from Galicia (now part of Ukraine) who advocated for women's rights and education (1828-1901).

The 20th century saw the BURSTYN name carried by individuals in diverse fields. One notable bearer was Joseph BURSTYN, a Russian-American film distributor who fought for the First Amendment rights of filmmakers in the United States (1892-1953). Another was the Polish-born American actor and director Emanuel Hirsch BURSTYN (1910-1987), known for his work in Yiddish theater and films.

Other notable figures with the BURSTYN surname include Edith BURSTYN, an Austrian-American social worker and activist who advocated for the rights of the disabled (1916-2004), and Ellen BURSTYN, the acclaimed American actress and winner of an Academy Award for her role in the 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (born 1932).

While the exact origins of the BURSTYN surname may be obscured by time, it has a rich history spanning centuries and continents, carried by individuals who have left their mark in various fields, from religion and literature to film and activism.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Burstyn

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

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

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

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