# Levy (surname)

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

A Jewish surname from Hebrew.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 37,228 |
| US rank (2010) | 932 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,293 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.0% (35,464 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈlɛ.vi/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Levie |

## Etymology

From the biblical name Levi. Unlike the biblical spelling, which descended through continuous liturgical traditions that preserved final secondary stress (causing it to shift to IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈliːvaɪ/), the surname was re-introduced into English after the 1650s via French Lévy and German Levy. The pronunciation IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈlɛvi/ arose from assimilation to the common noun levy, while IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: /ˈliːvi/ preserves the historical long vowel of the first syllable without final stress.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Levy 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 13% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 5.1% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Levy in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia and the Czech Republic.

## People named Levy

- William Levy, American-Cuban actor
- Jane Levy, American actress
- Daniel Levy, British businessman (born 1962)
- Steven Levy, American journalist
- Alexandre Levy, Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor (1864–1892)
- Howard Levy, American musician
- David Levy Yulee, American senator (1810–1886)
- John Levy, American musician (1912-2012)
- Ariel Levy, American writer
- Sarah Levy, American rugby player (born 1995)
- Tatiana Salem Levy, Brazilian writer
- Julien Levy, American art dealer (1906–1981)

and 12 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Leyva, Leiva, Levi, Levey, Leavy, Lev, Levay, Leyba, Leiby, Əliyeva, Love, Libby.

## 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.