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

Pinsky, 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 Pinsky surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pinsky in America

Pinsky is the 25332nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pinsky surname appeared 977 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 Pinsky.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pinsky 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 Pinsky

The surname Pinsky is of Eastern European origin, specifically from Poland and the areas that are now parts of Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. It is believed to have emerged in the 16th or 17th century as a variation of the Polish surname Pinski, which was derived from the place name Pinsk, a city located in modern-day Belarus.

The name Pinsk itself is thought to have its roots in the Slavic word "pina," meaning "swamp" or "marshy area," reflecting the geographic location of the city near wetlands and rivers. This connection to a specific place name is a common pattern for many Eastern European surnames, as they often originated from the names of towns, villages, or regions where families lived or held land.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Pinsky can be found in the Jewish community records of the town of Pinsk from the late 16th century. These records document the presence of families with the surname Pinsky, indicating that the name had already become established by that time.

Over the centuries, the surname Pinsky has been associated with several notable figures. One of the earliest was Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Pinsky, a prominent Jewish scholar who lived in Pinsk in the 17th century and authored several influential works on Jewish law and philosophy.

In the 19th century, Leib Pinsky was a prominent writer and activist in the Yiddish literary world, known for his contributions to the development of modern Yiddish literature and his advocacy for Jewish cultural and political rights in the Russian Empire.

Another notable bearer of the surname was David Pinsky, a Russian-born American poet and literary critic who lived from 1870 to 1959. He was a leading figure in the Jewish-American literary scene and played a significant role in popularizing and promoting Yiddish literature in the United States.

In the field of music, Regina Pinsky was a celebrated Russian-American concert pianist who performed throughout Europe and the United States in the early 20th century, earning acclaim for her interpretations of works by composers like Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

More recently, Robert Pinsky, born in 1940, is an acclaimed American poet, literary critic, and former U.S. Poet Laureate, known for his efforts to revitalize and promote the appreciation of poetry in contemporary American culture.

While the surname Pinsky has its roots in Eastern Europe, it has since spread to various parts of the world, reflecting the historical migration patterns of Jewish communities and the diaspora. However, the name remains closely tied to its origins in the region around the city of Pinsk, where it first emerged and gained prominence.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pinsky

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

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

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

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