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

Lienau, 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 Lienau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lienau in America

Lienau is the 49824th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lienau surname appeared 421 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 Lienau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lienau 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 Lienau

The surname LIENAU is of German origin, originating from the region of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It is believed to have emerged during the late medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century.

The name LIENAU is derived from a combination of the Old German words "lina", meaning "lime tree", and "au", referring to a meadow or clearing. This suggests that the name initially referred to someone who lived near a lime tree meadow or clearing.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name LIENAU can be found in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from the city of Bremen, dating back to the 14th century. This mentions a "Hinricus de Lynowe" in 1342, which is likely an early spelling variation of the surname.

In the 16th century, the name LIENAU appeared in the records of the town of Göttingen, located in Lower Saxony. A merchant named Hans Lienau is mentioned in the town's records from 1568.

Notable individuals with the surname LIENAU throughout history include Johannes Lienau (1607-1683), a German theologian and author who served as the rector of the University of Helmstedt. Another figure was Christian Lienau (1665-1720), a German jurist and scholar who wrote extensively on legal matters.

In the 19th century, Carl Lienau (1803-1888) was a prominent German journalist and political writer who advocated for democratic reforms and constitutional rights. He was also involved in the revolutionary movements of 1848-1849 in Germany.

Another notable bearer of the name was Ernst Lienau (1865-1935), a German architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings in Berlin and other cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Finally, Detlev Lienau (1899-1944) was a German naval officer who served in both World War I and World War II, eventually reaching the rank of Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) before being killed in action during the latter conflict.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lienau

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

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

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

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