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

Dorfman, 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 Dorfman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dorfman in America

Dorfman is the 11229th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dorfman surname appeared 2,814 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Dorfman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dorfman 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 Dorfman

The surname DORFMAN is of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, tracing its roots to various parts of Eastern Europe in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the Yiddish word "dorf," meaning "village," suggesting that the name's bearers may have hailed from a particular village or rural area.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the DORFMAN surname can be found in the Belarusian town of Pinsk, where a Chaim DORFMAN is documented as living in the late 1700s. The name also appeared in various Jewish community records and census documents throughout Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania during this period.

In the early 1800s, a Shmuel DORFMAN from the town of Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus) gained recognition as a respected Torah scholar and author of several religious texts. His works were widely studied and referenced by Jewish communities across Eastern Europe.

As the 19th century progressed, the DORFMAN name began to spread throughout the Russian Empire, with notable individuals emerging in various fields. Lev DORFMAN (1848-1919), a Russian-Jewish writer and journalist, was a prominent literary figure in St. Petersburg during the late 19th century.

Another notable DORFMAN was Yakov DORFMAN (1871-1942), a renowned Russian mathematician and educator who made significant contributions to the field of differential equations. He taught at several prestigious universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The early 20th century saw the emigration of many DORFMAN families from Eastern Europe to various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and South America. Among them was Isaac DORFMAN (1899-1987), a Polish-born American businessman who founded one of the largest furniture manufacturing companies in the United States.

While the DORFMAN name has its origins in Eastern Europe, it has since become widely dispersed across multiple countries and continents, with various spellings and variations emerging over time, reflecting the diverse journeys and experiences of its bearers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dorfman

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

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

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

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