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

Lambert, 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 Lambert surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lambert in America

Lambert is the 329th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lambert surname appeared 93,678 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 32 people would have the surname Lambert.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lambert 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 Lambert

The surname Lambert is of French origin, derived from the Germanic personal name Landbehrt, which is composed of the elements "land" meaning "land" and "behrt" meaning "bright" or "illustrious." The name's earliest recorded use dates back to the 8th century in the Frankish Empire.

The name Lambert gained widespread recognition during the Middle Ages, with several notable individuals bearing it. One of the earliest references can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners in England after the Norman Conquest. The name appeared as Lambart, an early spelling variation.

In the 12th century, Lambert le Begue (c. 1122-1177) was a renowned French poet and trouvère (poet-composer) who composed chansons and pastourelles. His works were influential in the development of courtly love poetry.

During the 13th century, Lambert le Tor (c. 1210-1277) was a French painter and manuscript illuminator who worked in Paris. He is known for his illuminations in the Bible moralisée, a lavishly illustrated manuscript commissioned by King Louis IX of France.

In the 14th century, Lambert of Auxerre (c. 1340-1389) was a French scholar and theologian who wrote extensively on the Bible and theology. His works, such as the Rationale Operum Divinorum, had a significant impact on medieval scholarship.

The 16th century saw the birth of Lambert Daneau (1530-1596), a French Protestant theologian and reformer. He served as a professor of theology in Geneva and was a prominent figure in the Reformed Church.

Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777) was a Swiss-German mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher. He made significant contributions to various fields, including the development of hyperbolic functions and the calculation of π.

Throughout history, the surname Lambert has been associated with numerous place names, such as Lamberts, a commune in the Vosges department of France, and Lambert Island, an island off the coast of Antarctica.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lambert

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

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

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

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