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

Margolis, 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 Margolis surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Margolis in America

Margolis is the 7912th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Margolis surname appeared 4,181 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 Margolis.

We can also compare 2010 data for Margolis 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 Margolis

The surname Margolis is of Jewish origin, derived from the Hebrew male given name Margaliot, which means "pearl." This name likely originated in the Mediterranean region during ancient times.

The earliest recorded examples of the name Margolis can be found in Jewish communities across Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Russia, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. These early records often include variations in spelling, such as Margolis, Margulies, and Margulis.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Margolis was Rabbi Moshe Margolis, who lived in Poland in the late 16th century. He was a prominent Jewish scholar and author of several religious texts.

In the 18th century, the name Margolis appeared in various records and manuscripts in Lithuania. Notable individuals from this time period include Yitzhak Margolis, a renowned Talmudic scholar born in Vilnius in 1742, and his son, Shmuel Margolis, who was a rabbi and author born in 1765.

As Jewish communities emigrated from Eastern Europe to other parts of the world, the surname Margolis spread to different countries. In the 19th century, Jacob Margolis, a Russian-born American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Margolis Brothers Company in New York City.

Another notable figure with the surname Margolis was Max Margolis, a renowned Jewish scholar and professor of Semitic languages who lived from 1866 to 1932. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania and made significant contributions to the field of biblical studies.

Throughout its history, the surname Margolis has been associated with various place names and localities where Jewish communities resided, such as the town of Marghiloman in present-day Moldova, which may have influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the name in some cases.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Margolis

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

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

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

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