Find out how popular the last name Seligman is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Seligman.
A German surname derived from the German word "selig" meaning "blessed" or "happy".
Seligman, 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 Seligman surname is from the 2010 census data.
Seligman is the 16909th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Seligman surname appeared 1,684 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 Seligman.
We can also compare 2010 data for Seligman 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.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 16909 | 16074 | 5.06% |
| Count | 1,684 | 1,656 | 1.68% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.57 | 0.61 | -6.78% |
The surname Seligman is of German-Jewish origin and can be traced back to the 13th century in the region of modern-day Germany. It is derived from the German word "selig," meaning "blessed" or "happy," and was likely initially used as a descriptive name for someone who was considered blessed or fortunate.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Seligman can be found in the town of Worms, Germany, where a Jewish man named Seligman ben Yitzchak is mentioned in a document from 1289. This document is part of the Memorbuch, a historical record of the Jewish community in Worms.
The name Seligman also appears in other historical records from the Middle Ages, such as the Nuremberg Memorbuch, which dates back to the 14th century. In these records, various spellings of the name can be found, including Seligmann, Seeligmann, and Selichmann.
One notable individual with the surname Seligman was Rabbi Moses Seligman, who lived in the 16th century and was a prominent scholar and author of his time. He wrote several works on Jewish law and philosophy, including commentaries on the Talmud.
Another prominent figure with the Seligman surname was Joseph Seligman (1819-1880), a German-American banker and philanthropist. He was one of the founders of the investment banking firm J. & W. Seligman & Co., which played a significant role in financing the development of the American West in the 19th century.
In the 18th century, the Seligman family established themselves as prominent bankers and merchants in the city of Frankfurt, Germany. One member of this family, Seligmann Bing (1754-1807), was a successful merchant and financier who worked closely with the German principalities.
Other notable individuals with the Seligman surname include Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861-1939), an American economist and professor at Columbia University, and Walter Seligman (1854-1935), an Australian businessman and politician who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
While the surname Seligman has its origins in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world, primarily due to Jewish migration and diaspora. Today, people with the Seligman surname can be found in various countries, including the United States, Israel, and other parts of Europe.
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Seligman.
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:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Seligman was:
| Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic White Only | 94.83% | 1,597 |
| Non-Hispanic Black Only | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | 1.07% | 18 |
| Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | 0.89% | 15 |
| Hispanic Origin | 2.85% | 48 |
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 Seligman has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 94.83% | 96.26% | -1.50% |
| Black | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.07% | 0.54% | 65.84% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| Two or More Races | 0.89% | 0.91% | -2.22% |
| Hispanic | 2.85% | 2.11% | 29.84% |
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 Seligman was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
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