2010
#152,628
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 107
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Leites
A surname of Belarusian origin meaning "Leighton" or "person from Leighton."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 114 Americans carry the last name Leites. That puts it at #156,005 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 3,006,617 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Leites 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
114
1 in 3,006,617
Census rank
#156,005
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
99
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 99 bearers of the surname Leites in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 156005th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Leites, the largest self-reported group is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (45.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Leites
The surname Leites is of Ukrainian origin, derived from the Old Slavic word "lyt", meaning "to pour" or "to spill". It is believed to have emerged in the 14th century as a descriptive name referring to occupations or activities related to pouring liquids, such as beer brewing or wine making.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Leites can be traced back to the Halychyna region of western Ukraine, which was part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia during the Middle Ages. The name is also found in historical records from neighboring areas, including present-day Poland and Belarus.
In the 16th century, a variant spelling "Lytes" appeared in the Metryka Litewska, a collection of official documents from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This suggests that the name had spread to other parts of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Ivan Leites, a merchant from the city of Lviv who lived in the late 15th century. His name is mentioned in a legal document dated 1487, which records a dispute over a shipment of goods.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Leites name was associated with several prominent figures in the Ukrainian Cossack movement. Notably, Pavlo Leites (1620-1678) served as a sotnyk (commander of a cavalry unit) under Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule.
Another historical figure with the Leites surname was Hryhoriy Leites (1738-1796), a Ukrainian philosopher and educator who taught at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. His writings on ethics and moral philosophy were influential in the region during the late 18th century.
In the 19th century, the name Leites was found among Ukrainian settlers in the Kuban region of southern Russia. Yevhen Leites (1842-1912), a Kuban Cossack leader and landowner, played a significant role in the development of agriculture and infrastructure in the area.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Leites surname also appeared in records from Galicia, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Oleksandr Leites (1870-1938) was a prominent Ukrainian lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Austrian parliament in Vienna.
While the surname Leites is most commonly associated with Ukraine and its historical regions, it has also been documented in other parts of Eastern Europe, likely due to migration and intermarriage over the centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leites
Among Census respondents with the surname Leites, the largest self-reported group is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (45.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Leites 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 Leites surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.5% · 54
- Hispanic or Latino45.5% · 45
Timeline
Historical Census data for Leites
Leites appears in 2 published Census surname files: 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2020
#156,005
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 99
-8 bearers (-7.5%)
Per 100,000 0.03
Rank movement Down 3,377 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | #152,628 | 107 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2020 | #156,005 | 99 | 0.03 | -8 bearers (-7.5%) | Down 3,377 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 Leites 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 | #152,628 | #156,005 | -2.2% |
| Count | 107 | 99 | -7.5% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.03 | -17.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Leites bearers went from 107 to 99 (-7.5% change). The surname moved down 3,377 positions in the national ranking, going from #152,628 to #156,005.
FAQ
Leites surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Leites?
Name Census estimates that about 114 living Americans carry the surname Leites. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 3,006,617 residents.
How common is Leites?
Leites ranks #156,005 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.03 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 99 people with the surname Leites. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (114), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.03 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.03 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 Leites.
Has Leites become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Leites went from 107 recorded bearers to 99. That is a decrease of 8 (-7.5%). In the national ranking it fell from #152,628 to #156,005.
What does the Census say about the background of Leites?
Among Census respondents with the surname Leites, the largest self-reported group is White at 54.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (45.5%). 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 Leites in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.5% (54 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Leites appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (54.5%), Hispanic (45.5%). 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 Leites (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 Leites mean?
A surname of Belarusian origin meaning "Leighton" or "person from Leighton." 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 Leites (0.03 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 people have the surname Leites?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.