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

Greenwald, 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 Greenwald surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Greenwald in America

Greenwald is the 5234th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Greenwald surname appeared 6,664 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Greenwald.

We can also compare 2010 data for Greenwald 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 Greenwald

The surname Greenwald is of German origin, derived from the combination of the words "grün" meaning green and "wald" meaning forest or woods. It is believed to have originated as a descriptive name, likely referring to someone who lived near a green forest or wooded area.

The earliest known recorded use of the surname Greenwald dates back to the 13th century in the regions of Bavaria and Saxony in Germany. It was sometimes spelled as "Grünwald" or "Grünewalt" in its early forms.

In the 15th century, the name appeared in various records and documents in German cities such as Nuremberg and Leipzig. One notable early bearer of the name was Johannes Grünwald, a merchant and landowner born in Nuremberg in 1472.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, as German migration increased, the surname Greenwald began to spread to other parts of Europe and eventually to the Americas. In 1625, records show a Hans Grünwald settling in the Dutch colony of New Netherland (present-day New York).

One of the earliest known instances of the Anglicized spelling "Greenwald" can be found in the birth records of Johann Greenwald, born in 1692 in the town of Heidelberg in the Palatinate region of Germany.

Notable bearers of the Greenwald surname throughout history include:

1. Christoph Greenwald (1628-1688), a German composer and organist known for his sacred choral works.
2. Anna Greenwald (1785-1859), a German painter and portraitist active in the early 19th century.
3. Heinrich Greenwald (1820-1892), a German-American architect who designed several notable buildings in Chicago, Illinois.
4. Gustav Greenwald (1875-1947), an Austrian-American chemist and academic known for his research on enzymes and metabolism.
5. Robert Greenwald (born 1943), an American filmmaker and producer known for his politically-charged documentaries such as "Outfoxed" and "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price."

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Greenwald

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

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

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

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