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

Leibowitz, 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 Leibowitz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leibowitz in America

Leibowitz is the 12017th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leibowitz surname appeared 2,598 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 Leibowitz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leibowitz 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 Leibowitz

The surname Leibowitz is of Jewish Ashkenazi origin, tracing its roots back to the Middle Ages in the German-speaking regions of Central and Eastern Europe. It is a variation of the Yiddish name Leib, derived from the Hebrew name Levi, meaning "joined" or "attached."

Leibowitz is a patronymic surname, indicating that it was originally formed by adding the suffix "-owitz" or "-witz" to the personal name Leib. This naming convention was common among Ashkenazi Jews, with the suffix often translating to "son of." Consequently, Leibowitz would have initially referred to the son of a man named Leib.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the Leibowitz name can be found in the Memorbuch of Nuremberg, a Jewish memorial book dating back to the late 15th century. This document lists several individuals with the surname Leibowitz, suggesting that the name had already been established by that time.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, as the Jewish population faced persecution and expulsion from various regions of Europe, many families bearing the Leibowitz name sought refuge in neighboring areas, including Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. This diaspora helped to spread the name across a wider geographic area.

Notable individuals with the surname Leibowitz include:

1. Yehoshua Leibowitz (1893-1994), an Israeli public intellectual, philosopher, and professor of biochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
2. Renée Leibowitz (1908-1972), a French composer, music theorist, and influential teacher known for her advocacy of serialism and the Second Viennese School.
3. Samuel Leibowitz (1893-1978), a prominent American lawyer and judge who gained national recognition for his defense of high-profile cases, including the "Scottsboro Boys" trial.
4. Annie Leibowitz (born 1949), an American portrait photographer renowned for her iconic images of celebrities and public figures.
5. Herman Leibowitz (1902-1989), an American lawyer and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

While the surname Leibowitz has its origins in the Jewish diaspora of Central and Eastern Europe, it has since spread to various parts of the world, carried by individuals and families seeking new opportunities or fleeing persecution.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leibowitz

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

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

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

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