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

Friedman, 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 Friedman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Friedman in America

Friedman is the 901st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Friedman surname appeared 38,374 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 13 people would have the surname Friedman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Friedman 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 Friedman

The surname Friedman is of German and Jewish origin, derived from the word "fried" meaning peace or peaceful, and "man" meaning man. It originated in the 14th century in Germany and was initially used as a descriptive name for a peaceful person.

The name can be traced back to the early 1300s, with the earliest recorded instance being a mention in the Judenbücher, a set of Jewish record books from the city of Nuremberg, where a person named Friedman Löw was listed in 1346. Similar spellings from this time include Friedemann, Friedmann, and Fridmann.

In the 15th century, the Friedman surname appeared in various German towns and cities, such as Frankfurt, Mainz, and Cologne. One notable example is Abraham Friedman, a prominent Jewish scholar and rabbi who lived in Frankfurt from 1460 to 1528.

As the Jewish population spread across Europe, the Friedman name traveled with them. In the 16th century, it can be found in records from Poland, Bohemia, and the Netherlands. A notable figure from this era is Moses Friedman, a Dutch Jewish philosopher who lived from 1535 to 1603.

The Friedman surname also has a long history in England, with records dating back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known examples is Daniel Friedman, a merchant who settled in London in 1592.

In the 18th century, the name was well-established in various parts of Europe, including Germany, Poland, and Russia. One notable figure from this period is David Friedman, a German-born Jewish philosopher and author who lived from 1710 to 1782.

As the centuries progressed, the Friedman name continued to spread across the globe, with many bearers of the name achieving notable accomplishments. For instance, Milton Friedman (1912-2006) was an American economist and Nobel Prize winner, while Thomas L. Friedman (born 1953) is a renowned American journalist and author.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Friedman

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

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

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

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