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

Ornstein, 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 Ornstein surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ornstein in America

Ornstein is the 30250th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ornstein surname appeared 774 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 Ornstein.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ornstein 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 Ornstein

The surname Ornstein has its origins in the German language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have originated from a place name or a topographic feature. One possible explanation is that the name is derived from the German word "orn," which means a corner or a bend, suggesting that the earliest bearers of this name may have lived near a bend in a river or a road.

Another theory suggests that the name Ornstein may have originated from the Old German word "urne," which means a vessel or a container, indicating that the name might have been given to someone who worked as a potter or a container maker. The suffix "-stein" is a common German suffix meaning stone, further reinforcing the possibility of the name being related to a geographic feature or occupation.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Ornstein can be found in various medieval German records and documents. One notable mention is in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the region of Saxony, where the name appears in the 13th century.

Among the notable bearers of the Ornstein surname throughout history are:

1. Abraham Ornstein (1859-1942), a Polish-born American mathematician and physicist known for his contributions to the field of statistical mechanics.
2. Leo Ornstein (1892-2002), a Russian-American composer and pianist, renowned for his avant-garde compositions and experimental techniques.
3. Martha Ornstein (1888-1975), a German-American psychoanalyst and one of the earliest students of Sigmund Freud.
4. Rudolph Ornstein (1879-1936), an Austrian-American chemist and industrialist who played a crucial role in the development of the plastics industry.
5. Wilhelm Ornstein (1904-1989), a German-born American physicist known for his contributions to the field of atomic physics and his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

The Ornstein surname has also been associated with various place names and geographical features throughout Germany and neighboring regions. For instance, the town of Ornstein in Bavaria and the Ornstein Mountain in the Harz region of Germany may have influenced the development and spread of this surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ornstein

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

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

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

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