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

Lerch, 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 Lerch surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lerch in America

Lerch is the 8911th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lerch surname appeared 3,674 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 Lerch.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lerch 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 Lerch

The surname Lerch has its origins in the German language and dates back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Old High German word "lër," which means "larch," a type of coniferous tree. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a larch tree or a forest of larch trees.

In the 13th century, the name Lerch was found in various records and manuscripts from the regions of Bavaria and Austria. One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be traced back to a record from the year 1275, which mentions a person named Chunrat Lerch from the town of Regensburg in Bavaria.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the name Lerch began to appear more frequently in various parts of Germany, particularly in the southern regions. In the Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis, a collection of historical documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, there is a record from 1385 mentioning a man named Hans Lerch from the town of Cottbus.

One of the notable individuals bearing the surname Lerch was Johann Adam Lerch, a German mathematician who lived from 1623 to 1699. He made significant contributions to the field of combinatorics and is known for his work on the theory of partitions.

In the 18th century, the name Lerch gained prominence in the field of music with the birth of Johann Melchior Lerch, a German composer and organist who lived from 1734 to 1801. He was particularly renowned for his compositions for the organ and church music.

Another famous bearer of the surname Lerch was Johann Jakob Lerch, a Swiss-German mathematician who lived from 1868 to 1944. He is best known for his work on the Lerch transcendent, a special function that bears his name and has applications in various areas of mathematics and physics.

In the 19th century, the name Lerch was associated with a prominent family from the town of Lerchenhau in Silesia (now part of Poland). This family played a significant role in the local textile industry and contributed to the economic development of the region.

Variations of the name Lerch have also been found in other parts of Europe, such as the Czech Republic and Austria, where it may have been influenced by the Germanic roots of the name or derived from different linguistic origins.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lerch

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!