# Finkelstein (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/finkelstein/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Yiddish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Yiddish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,591 |
| US rank (2010) | 7,258 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 67,250 people |
| Change since 2000 | -4.0% (4,781 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɪŋ.kəlˌstaɪn/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish פֿינקעלשטיין (finkelshteyn), from Old High German funko (“spark”) with stein (“stone”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Finkelstein in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 0.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Finkelstein in the United States.

## People named Finkelstein

- Norman Finkelstein, American political scientist (born 1953)
- David Finkelstein, American physicist (1929-2016)
- Amy Finkelstein, American economist
- Louis Finkelstein, American rabbi and scholar (1895–1991)
- Dolores Gray, American actress (1924–2002)
- Jackie Fields, American boxer (1908–1987)

## Similar surnames

Finkel, Finklea, Finkle, Finkley, Fansler, Feingold.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.