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

Glaser, 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 Glaser surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Glaser in America

Glaser is the 3493rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Glaser surname appeared 10,235 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Glaser.

We can also compare 2010 data for Glaser 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 Glaser

The surname Glaser is of German origin and can be traced back to the occupation of a glass-maker or glazier. The name is derived from the German word "glas," meaning glass, and likely emerged in the late medieval period when the glass-making industry began to flourish in Central Europe.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Glaser can be found in the Nuremberg Chronicles, a famous illustrated world history published in 1493. This historical text mentions a glassmaker named Hans Glaser who lived in the 15th century and was renowned for his intricate stained glass works.

The Glaser name is also found in various German town records from the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in regions known for their glassmaking traditions, such as Bavaria and Saxony. Notable examples include Johann Glaser (1551-1624), a renowned glassmaker from Nuremberg, and Andreas Glaser (1609-1675), a prominent glass engraver and etcher from Torgau.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Glaser surname spread across Europe as families migrated in search of new opportunities. One prominent figure was Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Glaser (1829-1902), a German-born philologist and linguist who specialized in the study of Slavic languages.

In the United States, the Glaser name can be traced back to the 19th century, with many immigrants arriving from German-speaking regions of Europe. One notable American with this surname was Milton Glaser (1929-2020), a renowned graphic designer best known for creating the famous "I ♥ NY" logo.

Other notable individuals with the Glaser surname include:

1. Donald Glaser (1926-2013), an American physicist and Nobel laureate who invented the bubble chamber for detecting ionizing radiation.

2. Georg Glaser (1910-1995), a German-born American mathematician and physicist known for his contributions to the field of combinatorics.

3. Judith Glaser (born 1945), an American author and organizational anthropologist who pioneered the concept of Conversational Intelligence.

4. Philipp Glaser (1936-2019), a Swiss-born German actor and voice actor who provided the German voice for characters like Winnie the Pooh and Shrek.

5. Yaakov Glaser (1920-2012), an Israeli writer and journalist who served as the editor-in-chief of the Hebrew newspaper Davar for over two decades.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Glaser

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

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

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

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