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

Pearlman, 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 Pearlman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pearlman in America

Pearlman is the 10638th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pearlman surname appeared 3,009 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 Pearlman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pearlman 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 Pearlman

The surname Pearlman is a relatively modern surname that emerged in Western and Central Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is an Anglicized variant of the German surname "Perlmann," which is derived from the German words "Perle" meaning "pearl" and "Mann" meaning "man." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who worked with or traded in pearls.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Pearlman can be found in the records of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany, where a merchant named Isaac Perlmann was documented in the late 1700s. As Jewish families began migrating from Germany to other parts of Europe and eventually to the United States, the surname likely underwent various spelling changes, leading to the emergence of the Anglicized form "Pearlman."

In the United States, one of the earliest documented individuals with the surname Pearlman was Joseph Pearlman, who was born in Poland in 1842 and immigrated to the United States in the mid-19th century, settling in New York City. Another notable early bearer of the name was Samuel Pearlman, a merchant born in Russia in 1856, who became a successful businessman in Chicago in the late 19th century.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the Pearlman surname gained prominence in various fields. One notable individual was Walter Pearlman (1892-1972), an American lawyer and civil rights activist who played a significant role in the desegregation of public schools in the United States. Another well-known bearer of the name was Martin Pearlman (1898-1975), a American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Pearlman Foundation, which supported various charitable organizations.

In the realm of arts and entertainment, several individuals with the surname Pearlman have achieved recognition. These include Marty Pearlman (1927-2022), an American jazz guitarist and composer, and Louis Pearlman (1954-2016), a controversial American businessman and record producer who was instrumental in the formation of popular music groups such as Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

While the surname Pearlman is not among the most common surnames globally, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and has been associated with individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions, contributing to the cultural tapestry of various societies.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pearlman

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

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

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

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