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

Greenberg, 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 Greenberg surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Greenberg in America

Greenberg is the 1720th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Greenberg surname appeared 20,897 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Greenberg.

We can also compare 2010 data for Greenberg 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 Greenberg

The surname Greenberg is of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, derived from the Yiddish word "grinen" meaning "green," and the German suffix "-berg" meaning "mountain" or "hill." It is believed to have originated in the 16th century in Central or Eastern Europe, likely in areas such as Germany, Poland, or Russia.

The earliest known recorded instance of the surname Greenberg dates back to the late 17th century, when it appeared in various records and documents from communities in the Pale of Settlement, a region in the Russian Empire where Jewish settlement was permitted. The name may have initially referred to someone who lived on or near a green hill or mountain.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Greenberg was Rabbi Yitzchak Greenberg, a prominent Talmudic scholar who lived in the late 17th century and authored several influential works on Jewish law and ethics. Another early figure was the Polish-Jewish merchant and philanthropist, Moshe Greenberg, who lived in the 18th century and was known for his support of Jewish educational institutions.

In the 19th century, the Greenberg surname began to spread more widely as Jewish communities migrated westward from Eastern Europe. One notable bearer was the German-Jewish philosopher and writer, Moses Greenberg (1828-1911), who wrote extensively on the relationship between Judaism and modernity.

As the 20th century arrived, the Greenberg name became well-established in various parts of the world. Notable individuals included the American writer and literary critic, Clement Greenberg (1909-1994), who championed the abstract expressionist movement in art, and Herschel Greenberg (1895-1964), a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Other prominent figures with the Greenberg surname include the American legal scholar and political theorist, Mark Greenberg (born 1958), and the Israeli physicist and Nobel laureate, David Greenberg (1909-2004), who made significant contributions to the study of subatomic particles.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Greenberg

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

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

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

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