How common is the surname Klein?

81,471 people in the United States had the surname Klein in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 3,790 Americans. It ranked 392nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Klein?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Klein identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Klein?

Calvin Klein, American fashion designer (born 1942), followed by Melanie Klein.

Where is the surname Klein most common?

Wikidata records people named Klein in the United States, Austria and the United Kingdom and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Klein?

Klein is /klaɪn/, one syllable.

Is the surname Klein getting more or less common?

More common. 79,685 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 81,471 in 2010, up 2.2%.

The surname Klein

A German surname, carried by 81,471 people in the United States.

Pronounced /klaɪn/ 1 syllable Soundex K450

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Klein is more common than 99.8% of them.

Origin

German origin

Borrowed from German Klein.

One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 81,471 people named Klein in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 3,790 Americans. That is up 2.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 79,685.

#392

rank among US surnames

81,471

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+2.2%

change since 2000 (was #359)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#383	Page	82,992	3,720
#384	McCarthy	82,950	3,722
#385	Love	82,873	3,726
#386	Robles	82,458	3,744
#387	Cervantes	82,161	3,758
#388	Solis	82,146	3,758
#389	Erickson	82,085	3,761

Who is named Klein

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

95% of people named Klein identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Kleins

31 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Calvin Klein
American fashion designer (born 1942)
Melanie Klein
British Austrian born psychoanalyst (1882–1960)
Lawrence Klein
American economist (1920-2013)
Yves Klein
20th century French visual artist (1928–1962)
Chris Klein
American actor, born 1979
Allen Klein
American businessman, music publisher (1931–2009)
William Klein
American photographer-filmmaker (1926–2022)
Ezra Klein
American journalist, born 1984
Steven Klein
American photographer, born 1965
Fritz Klein
American psychiatrist and LGBT activist (1932-2006)
Robert Klein
American stand-up comedian, born 1942
Jesper Klein
Actor and film director (1944-2011)

Notable Kleins come mostly from the United States (23), Austria (4) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Klein

Klein has the Soundex code K450, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K450.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Klein come from?: Borrowed from German Klein.
How common is the surname Klein?: 81,471 people in the United States had the surname Klein in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 3,790 Americans. It ranked 392nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Klein?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Klein identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Klein?: Calvin Klein, American fashion designer (born 1942), followed by Melanie Klein.
Where is the surname Klein most common?: Wikidata records people named Klein in the United States, Austria and the United Kingdom and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Klein?: Klein is /klaɪn/, one syllable.
Is the surname Klein getting more or less common?: More common. 79,685 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 81,471 in 2010, up 2.2%.