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The surname Leven

A German place surname, carried by 609 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈlɛvən/ 2 syllables Soundex L150

Leven: #36,695 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Leven #36,695, 609 people Leven: #36,695 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Leven #36,695, 609 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Leven is more common than 77.4% of them.

Origin

German origin

Various origins: * A variant of the surname Levin. * From the Old English personal name Lēofwine, composed of the elements lēof (“dear, beloved”) + wine (“friend”). * Borrowed from German Leven, a surname which shares the same origin of the Old English personal name. * Habitational surname from any of various places in Scotland and England.

Leven is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

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 609 people named Leven in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 506,971 Americans. That is down 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 694.

#36,695
rank among US surnames
609
people in 2010
0.2
per 100,000 Americans
-12.2%
change since 2000 (was #31,530)

Who is named Leven

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

79% of people named Leven identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 5.4% as Black (not Hispanic).

  • White (not Hispanic) 79%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 13%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 5.4%
  • Two or more races 1.1%
The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Levens

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Boris Leven
    American art director and production designer (1908-1986)
  • Jeremy Leven
    American novelist, screenwriter, director and producer, born 1941

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Leven

Leven has the Soundex code L150, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L150.

Other German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Leven come from?
Various origins: * A variant of the surname Levin. * From the Old English personal name Lēofwine, composed of the elements lēof (“dear, beloved”) + wine (“friend”). * Borrowed from German Leven, a surname which shares the same origin of the Old English personal name. * Habitational surname from…
How common is the surname Leven?
609 people in the United States had the surname Leven in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 506,971 Americans. It ranked 36,695th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Leven?
In the 2010 Census, 79% of people named Leven identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Leven?
Boris Leven, American art director and production designer (1908-1986), followed by Jeremy Leven.
Where is the surname Leven most common?
Wikidata records people named Leven in the United States.
How do you pronounce Leven?
Leven is /ˈlɛvən/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Leven?
Leven is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Leven getting more or less common?
Less common. 694 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 609 in 2010, down 12%.
Is Leven also a first name?
Yes. Leven is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.