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

Leiser, 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 Leiser surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leiser in America

Leiser is the 17673rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leiser surname appeared 1,588 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 Leiser.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leiser 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 Leiser

The surname Leiser has its origins in Germany, where it first appeared in the late Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century. It is believed to derive from the German word "leise," meaning "quiet" or "soft-spoken." This suggests that the name may have initially been a descriptive nickname given to someone who spoke in a gentle or subdued manner.

The earliest recorded instances of the Leiser surname can be found in various German legal documents and municipal records from the late medieval period. For example, a man named Hans Leiser is mentioned in a land registry from the city of Nuremberg, dated 1387.

In the 16th century, the Leiser name appears in several historical manuscripts, including the writings of the German humanist and philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam. He mentions a scholar named Johannes Leiser, who was born in Saxony around 1510 and studied at the University of Wittenberg.

As the Leiser family spread throughout German-speaking regions, various spelling variations emerged, such as Leiser, Leyser, and Leysser. Some of these variants may have originated from different local dialects or scribal errors in record-keeping.

One notable bearer of the Leiser surname was Polykarp Leiser the Elder (1552-1610), a German Lutheran theologian and professor at the University of Wittenberg. He was a prominent figure in the Protestant Reformation and authored several influential theological works.

Another distinguished individual with this name was Johann Leiser (1629-1698), a German composer and organist who served as the Kapellmeister at the court of the Electors of Saxony in Dresden. His compositions, particularly his church cantatas and organ works, were highly regarded during his lifetime.

In the 19th century, Karl Leiser (1819-1877) was a German-born American civil engineer who played a significant role in the construction of several major railroads in the United States, including the Union Pacific Railroad.

Other notable individuals with the Leiser surname include Gustav Leiser (1869-1946), an Austrian-American architect known for his work in the Art Nouveau style, and Ernst Leiser (1892-1973), a German-born American physicist and inventor who made contributions to the development of radar technology during World War II.

While the Leiser name has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world through emigration, with descendants bearing this surname found in various countries today.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leiser

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

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

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

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