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

Rosenberg, 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 Rosenberg surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rosenberg in America

Rosenberg is the 1339th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rosenberg surname appeared 26,307 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 9 people would have the surname Rosenberg.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rosenberg 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 Rosenberg

The surname Rosenberg is of German origin, deriving from the words "rose" and "berg" which together mean "rose mountain" or "mountain of roses." It is believed to have originated in the 12th century, potentially referring to a person who lived near a rose-covered hill or a location known for cultivating roses.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rosenberg can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval diplomatic documents from the 13th century, where it appears as "Rosenberger." This indicates that the name was already in use and well-established by that time.

In the 14th century, the Rosenberg family rose to prominence as a noble lineage in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. They were feudal lords and held significant influence in the region, with their ancestral seat being the Rosenberg Castle near the town of Český Krumlov.

A notable figure from this family was Petr Vok of Rosenberg (1539-1611), a renowned patron of the arts and sciences who supported numerous scholars, artists, and alchemists during the Renaissance period.

The name Rosenberg also has a strong connection to the Jewish community, particularly in Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many Jewish families adopted German surnames during the 18th and 19th centuries, and Rosenberg was one of the names chosen, possibly due to its association with nobility or as a reference to the rose's symbolic significance in Jewish culture.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Rosenberg was Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953), an American engineer who, along with his wife Ethel Rosenberg, was convicted of passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Their controversial trial and execution sparked widespread debate and controversy.

Another prominent figure was Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946), a German Nazi theorist and one of the principal architects of Nazi ideology. He served as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories during World War II and was convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials.

In the arts, Henri Rosenberg (1824-1904) was a renowned French art dealer and expert on Old Masters, while Marianne Rosenberg (born 1955) is a celebrated German singer and songwriter.

The name Rosenberg has also been associated with scientific achievements, such as Ralph Rosenberg (1866-1940), an American astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of galaxies and nebulae, and Hans Rosenberg (1904-1988), a German-American historian and scholar of modern European history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rosenberg

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

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

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

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