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

Leibovitz, 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 Leibovitz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leibovitz in America

Leibovitz is the 60636th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leibovitz surname appeared 332 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Leibovitz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leibovitz 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 Leibovitz

The surname Leibovitz originated in Eastern Europe, particularly in areas of modern-day Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus, during the Middle Ages. It is a Germanized version of the Hebrew name "Leibovitch," which means "son of Leib." Leib is a Yiddish name derived from the Hebrew word "lev," meaning "heart."

The earliest records of the Leibovitz surname can be traced back to the 16th century in Polish and Lithuanian Jewish communities. In those times, surnames were often patronymic, indicating the father's name. As such, Leibovitz likely referred to the son of a man named Leib or Leibke.

One of the earliest known individuals with the Leibovitz surname was Rabbi Mordechai Leibovitz, a prominent Torah scholar who lived in Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in the late 16th century. Another notable figure was Shmuel Leibovitz, a 17th-century rabbi and author from Cracow, Poland.

In the 18th century, the Leibovitz surname appeared in various records, including the Revision Lists, which were census-like documents used in the Russian Empire to track Jewish populations. One such record from 1795 mentions a family named Leibovitz living in the town of Grodno, now in modern-day Belarus.

As the Jewish diaspora spread across Europe and beyond, the Leibovitz surname took on various spellings, such as Leibowitz, Leibovics, and Leibowitz. One famous bearer of this name was Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1994), an Israeli public intellectual, philosopher, and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Another notable individual was Annie Leibovitz (born 1949), the renowned American portrait photographer known for her work with Rolling Stone magazine and her iconic celebrity portraits. She is considered one of the most influential photographers of the late 20th century.

Other historical figures with the Leibovitz surname include Isaac Leibovitz (1857-1933), a Ukrainian-born Jewish author and playwright, and Bernard Leibovitz (1909-1984), an American mathematician and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leibovitz

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

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

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

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