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

Lietz, 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 Lietz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lietz in America

Lietz is the 17559th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lietz surname appeared 1,602 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 Lietz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lietz 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 Lietz

The surname Lietz has its origins in Germany, where it first appeared in historical records during the late medieval period. It is believed to be derived from the old German word "liet," which translates to "song" or "melody." This suggests that the name may have originally been used to identify individuals who were singers, musicians, or bards.

One of the earliest known references to the Lietz surname can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from the region of Saxony. In this text, a man named Johannes Lietz is mentioned as a witness in a land dispute dating back to the year 1412.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Lietz name appeared in various town and church records across Germany, particularly in the regions of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Pomerania. Notable individuals from this time period include Hans Lietz (born c. 1460), a merchant from the city of Leipzig, and Margaretha Lietz (c. 1520-1588), a landowner from the town of Cottbus.

In the 17th century, the Lietz surname was also found in parts of modern-day Poland, which at the time was under the control of the Prussian Kingdom. One notable example is Caspar Lietz (1625-1693), a Protestant minister who served in the town of Gdańsk (formerly known as Danzig).

As the centuries progressed, the Lietz name continued to spread across central and eastern Europe. In the 19th century, Johann Lietz (1829-1892) was a prominent German educator and founder of the Lietz boarding schools, which aimed to promote the ideals of outdoor education and physical fitness.

Other notable individuals with the Lietz surname include Karl Lietz (1868-1944), a German politician and member of the Reichstag; Helene Lietz (1887-1964), a German sculptor and artist; and Wilhelm Lietz (1905-1984), a German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime during World War II.

While the Lietz name has its roots in Germany and central Europe, it has since been carried to various parts of the world through emigration and migration. However, the earliest historical records and notable figures associated with this surname can be traced back to its Germanic origins and the regions where it first appeared in medieval and early modern times.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lietz

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

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

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

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