How common is the surname Levy?

37,228 people in the United States had the surname Levy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,293 Americans. It ranked 932nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Levy?

William Levy, American-Cuban actor, followed by Jane Levy.

Where is the surname Levy most common?

Wikidata records people named Levy in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil and 2 other countries.

How do you pronounce Levy?

Levy is /ˈlɛ.vi/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Levy getting more or less common?

More common. 35,464 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 37,228 in 2010, up 5.0%.

Is Levy also a first name?

Yes. Levy 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.

The surname Levy

A Hebrew surname, carried by 37,228 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈlɛ.vi/ 2 syllables Soundex L100 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Levy is more common than 99.4% of them.

Origin

Hebrew origin

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.

One of 51 Hebrew surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 37,228 people named Levy in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 8,293 Americans. That is up 5.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 35,464.

#932

rank among US surnames

37,228

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+5%

change since 2000 (was #892)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#923	Quintana	37,657	8,199
#924	Lynn	37,644	8,202
#925	Esquivel	37,578	8,216
#926	Bean	37,571	8,218
#927	Dodson	37,566	8,219
#928	Mullen	37,502	8,233
#929	Xiong	37,499	8,233

Who is named Levy

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

79% of people named Levy identified as white (not Hispanic), 13% as Black (not Hispanic) and 5.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 79%
Black (not Hispanic) 13%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 5.1%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Levys

24 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

William Levy
American-Cuban actor, born 1980
Jane Levy
American actress, born 1989
Daniel Levy
British businessman (born 1962)
Steven Levy
American journalist, born 1951
Alexandre Levy
Brazilian composer, pianist and conductor (1864–1892)
Howard Levy
American musician, born 1951
David Levy Yulee
American senator (1810–1886)
John Levy
American musician (1912-2012)
Ariel Levy
American writer, born 1974
Sarah Levy
American rugby player (born 1995)
Tatiana Salem Levy
Brazilian writer, born 1979
Julien Levy
American art dealer (1906–1981)

Notable Levys come mostly from the United States (17), the United Kingdom (3) and Brazil (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Levie

Surnames that sound like Levy

Levy has the Soundex code L100, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L100.

Other Hebrew surnames

All 51 Hebrew surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Levy come from?: 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…
How common is the surname Levy?: 37,228 people in the United States had the surname Levy in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,293 Americans. It ranked 932nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Levy?: In the 2010 Census, 79% of people named Levy identified as white (not Hispanic), and 13% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Levy?: William Levy, American-Cuban actor, followed by Jane Levy.
Where is the surname Levy most common?: Wikidata records people named Levy in the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil and 2 other countries.
How do you pronounce Levy?: Levy is /ˈlɛ.vi/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Levy getting more or less common?: More common. 35,464 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 37,228 in 2010, up 5.0%.
What are other spellings of Levy?: Levie.
Is Levy also a first name?: Yes. Levy 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.