How common is the surname Finkelstein?

4,591 people in the United States had the surname Finkelstein in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 67,250 Americans. It ranked 7,258th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Finkelstein?

Norman Finkelstein, American political scientist (born 1953), followed by David Finkelstein.

Where is the surname Finkelstein most common?

Wikidata records people named Finkelstein in the United States.

How do you pronounce Finkelstein?

Finkelstein is /ˈfɪŋ.kəlˌstaɪn/, 3 syllables.

Is the surname Finkelstein getting more or less common?

Less common. 4,781 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,591 in 2010, down 4.0%.

The surname Finkelstein

A Yiddish surname, carried by 4,591 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈfɪŋ.kəlˌstaɪn/ 3 syllables Soundex F524

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Finkelstein is more common than 95.5% of them.

Origin

Yiddish origin

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

One of 31 Yiddish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,591 people named Finkelstein in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 67,250 Americans. That is down 4.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,781.

#7,258

rank among US surnames

4,591

people in 2010

1.6

per 100,000 Americans

-4%

change since 2000 (was #6,540)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,254	Fenwick	4,597	67,162
#7,255	Nightingale	4,596	67,177
#7,257	Lohman	4,592	67,236
#7,258	Futch	4,591	67,250
#7,261	Beggs	4,590	67,265
#7,264	Humble	4,588	67,294

Who is named Finkelstein

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Finkelstein identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Finkelsteins

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Norman Finkelstein
American political scientist (born 1953)
David Finkelstein
American physicist (1929-2016)
Amy Finkelstein
American economist, born 1973
Louis Finkelstein
American rabbi and scholar (1895–1991)
Dolores Gray
American actress (1924–2002)
Jackie Fields
American boxer (1908–1987)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Finkelstein

Finkelstein has the Soundex code F524, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F524.

Other Yiddish surnames

All 31 Yiddish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Finkelstein come from?: Borrowed from Yiddish פֿינקעלשטיין (finkelshteyn), from Old High German funko (“spark”) with stein (“stone”).
How common is the surname Finkelstein?: 4,591 people in the United States had the surname Finkelstein in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 67,250 Americans. It ranked 7,258th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Finkelstein?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Finkelstein identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Finkelstein?: Norman Finkelstein, American political scientist (born 1953), followed by David Finkelstein.
Where is the surname Finkelstein most common?: Wikidata records people named Finkelstein in the United States.
How do you pronounce Finkelstein?: Finkelstein is /ˈfɪŋ.kəlˌstaɪn/, 3 syllables.
Is the surname Finkelstein getting more or less common?: Less common. 4,781 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,591 in 2010, down 4.0%.