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

Sinai, 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 Sinai surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sinai in America

Sinai is the 55841st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sinai surname appeared 367 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 Sinai.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sinai 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 Sinai

The surname SINAI is believed to have originated in the Middle East, specifically in the region surrounding the Sinai Peninsula, which is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. This peninsula is shared by Egypt and the Palestinian territories, and it has played a significant role in the history of the region.

The name SINAI is likely derived from the ancient Greek word "Sina," which referred to the mountain range in the peninsula. This mountain range was mentioned in several ancient texts, including the Bible, where it is known as Mount Sinai, the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname SINAI can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript commissioned in 1086 by William the Conqueror to record the landholdings and assets of his English subjects. In this document, a landowner named Robert de Sinai is mentioned, suggesting that the surname had already been established by that time.

Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the surname SINAI. One of the earliest recorded was Rabbi Judah ben Samuel Sinai (c. 1150-1230), a prominent Jewish scholar and commentator who lived in Spain during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in that country.

Another notable figure was Sir Moses Montefiore Sinai (1784-1885), a British financier and philanthropist who was renowned for his efforts to support Jewish communities around the world. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1837 for his philanthropic work.

In the literary world, the surname SINAI is associated with the Russian writer and philosopher Yevgeny Sinai (1925-2022), who made significant contributions to the field of dynamical systems and chaos theory. He was awarded the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 1997 for his work.

The surname SINAI has also been linked to various place names, such as Mount Sinai in Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula itself. Additionally, there are several towns and cities around the world that bear the name Sinai or variations of it, such as Sinaia in Romania and Sinai in India.

Throughout its history, the surname SINAI has been associated with individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions, reflecting the cultural and geographical diversity of the regions where it has been found.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sinai

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

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

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

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