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

Lody, 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 Lody surname is from the 2000 census data.

Popularity of Lody in America

Lody is the 147095th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lody surname appeared 103 times in the 2000 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Lody.

The history of the last name Lody

The surname Lody is believed to have originated in Central Europe, specifically from the region that is now modern-day Poland. The name is likely derived from the Polish word "lody," which means "ice" or "ice cream." This suggests that the name may have originally been a nickname for someone who worked with ice or had a particularly cool demeanor. It first appeared in written records during the Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century, a time when surnames were becoming more commonly used to identify individuals beyond their given names.

Records from the medieval period in Poland provide some of the earliest mentions of the surname. Manuscripts from the late 14th century refer to a noble family by the name of Lody in the regions of Lesser Poland and Silesia. One of the earliest recorded instances was a man named Jan Lody, who appears in a land grant document dated to 1387. This indicates that the family had a certain social standing and owned property during that time.

The spelling of the surname has seen various iterations over centuries. Early records show it as Lodi and Loddi. A notable figure bearing the surname was Stanisław Lody, a Polish merchant and city council member in Krakow, who was active in the late 15th century. He played a significant role in local trade and contributed to the development of commerce in the city.

During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Lody family name began appearing more frequently in legal documents and tax records. One such example is Katarzyna Lody, born in 1592, who was involved in several property disputes documented in the town of Wrocław. These records suggest that the Lody family was fairly widespread and engaged in various civic activities.

By the 19th century, members of the Lody family had migrated to other parts of Europe and even America. Captain Karl Lody, born in 1877 and executed in 1914, is one such prominent historical figure. He was a German naval officer and spy during World War I, whose espionage activities in Britain are well-documented.

In the same century, the name appears in various immigration records, indicating the diaspora of people with the surname Lody to new countries, especially during periods of political upheaval and industrialization. This period also saw the name being recorded in different spellings in various countries, adapting to local languages and dialects.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lody

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

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 2000 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Lody 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.

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

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

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