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

Perlman, 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 Perlman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Perlman in America

Perlman is the 8962nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Perlman surname appeared 3,653 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 Perlman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Perlman 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 Perlman

The surname Perlman is of German and Yiddish origin, derived from the German word "Perle" meaning "pearl." It likely originated as an occupational name for someone who worked with pearls or as a nickname for someone who was considered valuable and precious like a pearl.

The earliest known record of the surname dates back to the 16th century in the town of Furth, Bavaria, where a Jewish family was recorded with the name Perlman. This suggests that the name may have been adopted by Ashkenazi Jews living in German-speaking regions.

In the 17th century, the Perlman surname can be found in various records and manuscripts from the Holy Roman Empire, including the cities of Frankfurt, Mainz, and Worms. It's possible that the name was also influenced by the German word "Perlmutter," which means "mother-of-pearl," further reinforcing its connection to the pearl trade.

One notable early bearer of the Perlman surname was Rabbi Yisrael Perlman, who lived in the 17th century and was a renowned Talmudic scholar in the city of Krakow, Poland. Another early Perlman was Yitzhak Perlman, a 17th-century Hebrew grammarian and scholar from Prague.

In the 19th century, several Perlmans gained prominence in various fields. These include Selig Perlman (1888-1959), an American economist and labor historian, and Itzhak Perlman (born 1945), the world-renowned Israeli-American violinist and conductor.

Other notable individuals with the Perlman surname include Philip Perlman (1890-1960), an American lawyer and government official who served as the United States Secretary of Labor under President Harry S. Truman, and Walter Perlman (1915-1997), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Perlman Music Program.

While the Perlman surname has its roots in Germany and Yiddish-speaking communities, it has since spread to various parts of the world, including the United States, Israel, and other countries with significant Jewish populations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Perlman

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

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

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

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