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

Eisenstein, 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 Eisenstein surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Eisenstein in America

Eisenstein is the 21228th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Eisenstein surname appeared 1,236 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 Eisenstein.

We can also compare 2010 data for Eisenstein 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 Eisenstein

The surname Eisenstein is of German origin, derived from the words "Eisen" meaning iron and "Stein" meaning stone. It likely originated in the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century, and was initially used to identify individuals who worked with iron or lived near iron mines or quarries.

The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various German records and documents from the 15th and 16th centuries. One notable mention is in the Augsburg Tax Registers of 1474, where a certain Hans Eisenstein is listed as a blacksmith residing in the city.

As the name spread across German-speaking regions, variations in spelling emerged, such as Eisenstein, Eysenstein, and Eysenstain. Some of these variations were influenced by local dialects or the personal preferences of individual families.

The name Eisenstein has been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest was Johann Eisenstein (1523-1597), a German mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of planetary motion and the development of the Gregorian calendar.

In the 19th century, Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (1898-1948) was a renowned Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. His revolutionary techniques and pioneering works, such as "Battleship Potemkin" and "Strike," had a profound impact on the art of filmmaking.

Another prominent bearer of the surname was Ferdinand Gotthold Max Eisenstein (1823-1852), a German mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry and the study of elliptic functions.

In the 20th century, Elizabeth Eisenstein (1923-2016) was a renowned American historian and academic, best known for her groundbreaking work "The Printing Press as an Agent of Change," which explored the impact of the printing revolution on early modern Europe.

The name Eisenstein has also been associated with various place names and locations in Germany, such as Eisenstein in Bavaria and Eisenstein in Saxony, further reinforcing its deep-rooted German heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Eisenstein

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

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

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

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