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Name Lineage

    The surname Lessing

    A German surname, carried by 627 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex L252

    Lessing: #35,812 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Lessing #35,812, 627 people Lessing: #35,812 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Lessing #35,812, 627 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lessing is more common than 77.9% of them.

    Origin

    German origin

    * As a German surname, borrowed from German Lessing, a variant of Lessig. * As a Lower Sorbian surname, from lesník (“forester”). Compare Lesnik.

    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 627 people named Lessing in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 492,417 Americans. That is up 8.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 576.

    #35,812
    rank among US surnames
    627
    people in 2010
    0.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +8.9%
    change since 2000 (was #36,630)

    Who is named Lessing

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

    92% of people named Lessing identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 2.7% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 92%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.4%
    • Two or more races 2.7%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 1.1%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Lessings

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Erich Lessing
      Austrian photographer (1923-2018)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Lessing

    Lessing has the Soundex code L252, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L252.

    Other German surnames

    All 1,101 German surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Lessing come from?
    * As a German surname, borrowed from German Lessing, a variant of Lessig. * As a Lower Sorbian surname, from lesník (“forester”). Compare Lesnik.
    How common is the surname Lessing?
    627 people in the United States had the surname Lessing in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 492,417 Americans. It ranked 35,812th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Lessing?
    In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Lessing identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Lessing?
    Erich Lessing, Austrian photographer (1923-2018).
    Where is the surname Lessing most common?
    Wikidata records people named Lessing in Austria.
    Is the surname Lessing getting more or less common?
    More common. 576 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 627 in 2010, up 8.9%.