2000
#18,748
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,353
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.50
Rare Last name
Leiser
German surname meaning "quiet" or "soft-spoken".
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 1,671 Americans carry the last name Leiser. That puts it at #18,699 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.49 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 205,119 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Leiser surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
1.7K
1 in 205,119
Census rank
#18,699
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.5
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
1.5K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,457 bearers of the surname Leiser in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.49 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 18699th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Leiser, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.3%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of 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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leiser
Among Census respondents with the surname Leiser, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.3%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Leiser bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Leiser surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.9% · 1,368
- Two or more races2.3% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 9
- Black or African American0.3% · 5
Timeline
Historical Census data for Leiser
Leiser appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#17,673
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,588
+235 bearers (+17.4%)
Per 100,000 0.54
Rank movement Up 1,075 places
2020
#18,699
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,457
-131 bearers (-8.2%)
Per 100,000 0.49
Rank movement Down 1,026 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #18,748 | 1,353 | 0.50 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #17,673 | 1,588 | 0.54 | +235 bearers (+17.4%) | Up 1,075 places |
| 2020 | #18,699 | 1,457 | 0.49 | -131 bearers (-8.2%) | Down 1,026 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Leiser surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #17,673 | #18,699 | -5.8% |
| Count | 1,588 | 1,457 | -8.2% |
| Per 100K | 0.54 | 0.49 | -9.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Leiser bearers went from 1,588 to 1,457 (-8.2% change). The surname moved down 1,026 positions in the national ranking, going from #17,673 to #18,699.
FAQ
Leiser surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Leiser?
Name Census estimates that about 1,671 living Americans carry the surname Leiser. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 205,119 residents.
How common is Leiser?
Leiser ranks #18,699 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.49 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,457 people with the surname Leiser. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (1,671), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.49 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.49 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Leiser.
Has Leiser become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Leiser went from 1,588 recorded bearers to 1,457. That is a decrease of 131 (-8.2%). In the national ranking it fell from #17,673 to #18,699.
What does the Census say about the background of Leiser?
Among Census respondents with the surname Leiser, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.3%) and Hispanic (1.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Leiser in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.9% (1,368 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Leiser appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (93.9%), Two or More Races (2.3%), Hispanic (1.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Leiser (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Leiser mean?
German surname meaning "quiet" or "soft-spoken". The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Leiser (0.49 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Leiser?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.