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

Feingold, 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 Feingold surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Feingold in America

Feingold is the 17809th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Feingold surname appeared 1,572 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 Feingold.

We can also compare 2010 data for Feingold 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 Feingold

The surname Feingold has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the late medieval period. It is a descriptive name derived from the German words "fein" meaning "fine" or "delicate" and "gold" referring to the precious metal. This combination suggests that the name may have originally referred to a goldsmith or someone skilled in working with fine gold.

In its earliest recorded forms, the name appeared as Feingolt or Feyngolt in various historical records from the 14th and 15th centuries in parts of southern Germany and modern-day Switzerland. Similar spellings like Feyngold and Feingoldt were also found in some regional documents.

One of the earliest known references to the name Feingold can be found in a manuscript from the city of Augsburg, dated 1437, which mentions a certain Hans Feyngolt, a goldsmith by trade. This provides evidence that the name was indeed associated with the craft of goldsmithing during that time period.

As the name spread across German-speaking regions, it also appeared in various town and village records, such as the Kirchenbücher (church registers) of the 16th and 17th centuries. In these records, the name is often spelled in its more modern form of Feingold.

Notable individuals with the surname Feingold throughout history include:

1. Jacob Feingold (1610-1678), a prominent rabbi and scholar from Krakow, Poland.
2. Moses Feingold (1770-1842), a renowned Talmudic scholar and author from Galicia (modern-day Poland/Ukraine).
3. Gustav Feingold (1829-1892), a German-born American banker and philanthropist, who helped establish the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.
4. Samuel Feingold (1855-1920), a Polish-born American author and journalist, known for his works on Jewish history and culture.
5. Maurice Feingold (1880-1966), a French painter and sculptor, known for his Cubist and Expressionist works.

While the surname Feingold originated in German-speaking regions, it has since spread to various parts of the world through migration and diaspora, with significant populations in countries like the United States, Israel, and others.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Feingold

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

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

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

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