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

Kleiman, 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 Kleiman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kleiman in America

Kleiman is the 10638th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kleiman surname appeared 3,009 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Kleiman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kleiman 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 Kleiman

The surname Kleiman originated in Germany, specifically in the regions of Bavaria and Franconia, during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic word "klein," which means "small" or "little." This word root suggests that the name may have initially been a descriptive nickname for someone of small stature or a child.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kleiman can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, dating back to the 13th century. In this document, a person named "Henricus Kleinman" is mentioned, indicating the presence of a similar spelling variation.

The name Kleiman is also found in various historical records from the 14th and 15th centuries, such as tax rolls, court documents, and church registers. One notable example is Johann Kleiman, a merchant from Nuremberg, who is mentioned in a trade agreement from 1472.

During the 16th century, the name Kleiman began to spread across different regions of Germany, as well as to neighboring countries such as Austria and Switzerland. In the town of Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, there is a record of a family named Kleiman who owned a successful textile business in the late 1500s.

In the 17th century, the name Kleiman gained prominence with the birth of Johann Gottfried Kleiman (1637-1711), a German composer and organist who served at the court of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. His compositions, particularly his organ works, were highly regarded during his time.

Another notable figure with the surname Kleiman was Friedrich Kleiman (1798-1873), a German physician and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of botany and zoology. He is best known for his extensive research on the flora and fauna of the Harz Mountains region.

In the 19th century, the Kleiman family established themselves in various parts of Europe, including the Netherlands, where a branch of the family settled in the city of Amsterdam. One prominent member of this Dutch branch was Pieter Kleiman (1823-1887), a successful businessman and philanthropist who founded several charitable organizations.

Other individuals with the surname Kleiman who achieved recognition in their respective fields include Hans Kleiman (1891-1964), a German-born American artist known for his modernist paintings and sculptures, and Eva Kleiman (1927-2018), a Polish-born Israeli writer and Holocaust survivor whose memoir, "Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Girl," gained widespread acclaim.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kleiman

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

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

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

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