Gevirtz
A surname derived from the German word "Gewürz," meaning spice or seasoning.
According to the 2010 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 137 Americans carry the last name Gevirtz. That puts it at #153,769 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,501,856 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Gevirtz surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Gevirtz appeared in the 2010 Census surname file but was not included in the published 2020 file. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames with at least 100 recorded bearers, so this usually means the name fell below that threshold.
Bearers in the US
137
1 in 2,501,856
Census rank
#153,769
2010 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
106
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 106 bearers of the surname Gevirtz in its 2010 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 153769th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Gevirtz, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%.
Origin
Meaning and origin of Gevirtz
The surname Gevirtz has its origins in the Yiddish language, which was historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. It is derived from the German word "Gewürz," meaning "spice" or "condiment." This suggests that the name may have originally been an occupational surname, referring to someone who traded in spices or worked as a spice merchant.
The earliest recorded instances of the surname Gevirtz can be traced back to the 18th century in regions such as Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus, where significant Ashkenazi Jewish populations resided. Variations in spelling, such as Gewirtz, Gevirtzer, and Gevirtsman, were common due to the lack of standardized spelling conventions in those times.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Yitzchak Gevirtz, a prominent rabbi and scholar who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries in the town of Pinsk, located in modern-day Belarus. His works on Jewish law and philosophy were widely studied and influential within the Ashkenazi Jewish community.
In the 19th century, the Gevirtz surname appeared in historical records from various parts of the Russian Empire, including present-day Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Notable individuals from this period include Shmuel Gevirtz (1826-1901), a renowned Hebrew writer and educator who authored several textbooks and works on Jewish ethics and philosophy.
As the Jewish diaspora spread across Europe and later to the Americas, the Gevirtz name traveled with them. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigrants bearing the Gevirtz surname arrived in the United States, settling in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. One notable figure from this era was Abraham Gevirtz (1880-1957), a successful businessman and philanthropist who supported various Jewish charities and educational institutions.
Another notable individual with the Gevirtz surname was Max Gevirtz (1906-1995), a Polish-born American artist and painter who gained recognition for his vibrant and expressive works depicting scenes from Jewish life and culture. His paintings can be found in several prominent art collections across the United States.
While the Gevirtz surname originated from a specific geographic region and cultural background, it has since become more widely dispersed globally, reflecting the migrations and resettlements of Jewish communities throughout history.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gevirtz
Among Census respondents with the surname Gevirtz, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%.
The bar chart below shows how Gevirtz bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2010 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Gevirtz surname at the time of the 2010 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.3%
- Unknown or suppressed5.7%
FAQ
Gevirtz surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Gevirtz?
Name Census estimates that about 137 living Americans carry the surname Gevirtz. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,501,856 residents.
How common is Gevirtz?
Gevirtz ranks #153,769 in the 2010 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2010 Census file counted 106 people with the surname Gevirtz. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (137), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Gevirtz.
Has Gevirtz become more or less common over time?
Gevirtz appears here with 2010 Census data. When additional surname-file years are available for this name, Name Census uses them to show longer-term movement in rank and bearer count.
What does the Census say about the background of Gevirtz?
Among Census respondents with the surname Gevirtz, the largest self-reported group is White at 94.3%. These figures come from the 2010 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Gevirtz in the 2010 Census, accounting for 94.3%.
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Gevirtz appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2010 file are White (94.3%).
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Not necessarily. Gevirtz appears here with 2010 Census data, while the latest surname file loaded on Name Census is 2020. When a surname drops below the Census publication threshold, older rows can still be kept for historical reference even if the name no longer appears in the newest file.
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Gevirtz mean?
A surname derived from the German word "Gewürz," meaning spice or seasoning. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2010 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Gevirtz (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people are called Gevirtz?
See how many people are called Gevirtz on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.