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

Leichman, 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 Leichman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leichman in America

Leichman is the 132206th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leichman surname appeared 128 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 Leichman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leichman 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 Leichman

The surname Leichman has its origins in the German language and can be traced back to the late Middle Ages, specifically the 14th century. Initially, it was predominantly found in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria.

Leichman is derived from the old German word "leich," which means "corpse" or "dead body." This suggests that the name may have originated as a designation for an individual who worked in professions related to funerary services or the handling of the deceased, such as a gravedigger or undertaker.

Some of the earliest recorded instances of the Leichman surname can be found in various German municipal records and church registries from the 15th and 16th centuries. For example, there is a mention of a Hans Leichman in the town of Nuremberg in 1489, and a Johannes Leichman in the city of Cologne in 1547.

In the 17th century, variations of the name began to appear, such as Leichmann and Lechman, likely due to regional dialect differences and scribal errors in record-keeping.

One notable bearer of the Leichman surname was Johann Leichman, a German theologian and scholar who lived from 1589 to 1647. He was a prominent figure in the Lutheran Church and served as a professor at the University of Wittenberg.

Another significant individual with this surname was Wilhelm Leichman, a German musician and composer who lived from 1823 to 1889. He is best known for his contributions to the development of the lied, a type of German art song.

In the 19th century, the Leichman surname gained some recognition through the work of Karl Leichman, a German painter born in 1817. His landscape and genre paintings were widely exhibited during his lifetime and are now held in various art collections across Europe.

Additionally, there was a notable German politician named Otto Leichman, who lived from 1868 to 1943. He served as a member of the Reichstag (the German parliament) during the Weimar Republic and was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning Max Leichman, a German-American biochemist who was born in 1907 and made significant contributions to the understanding of enzyme mechanisms and metabolic processes. He held academic positions at various prestigious institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leichman

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

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

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

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