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Name Lineage

    The surname Lim

    A Korean surname, carried by 37,021 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex L500

    Lim: #936 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Lim #936, 37,021 people Lim: #936 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Lim #936, 37,021 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lim is more common than 99.4% of them.

    Origin

    Korean origin

    From Korean, including 임 (Im), 林 or 任; 림 (Rim), 林.

    One of 42 Korean surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 37,021 people named Lim in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 8,340 Americans. That is up 35% since 2000, when the Census counted 27,433.

    #936
    rank among US surnames
    37,021
    people in 2010
    13
    per 100,000 Americans
    +35%
    change since 2000 (was #1,170)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #927Dodson37,5668,219
    #928Mullen37,5028,233
    #929Xiong37,4998,233
    #930Hayden37,4518,244
    #931Cano37,3688,262
    #932Levy37,2288,293
    #933Huber37,1708,306

    Who is named Lim

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

    92% of people named Lim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 3.0% as two or more races and 2.9% as white (not Hispanic).

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 92%
    • Two or more races 3.0%
    • White (not Hispanic) 2.9%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.6%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.2%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.0%

    Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

    Famous Lims

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Liza Lim
      Australian composer, born 1966

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Lim

    Lim has the Soundex code L500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L500.

    Other Korean surnames

    All 42 Korean surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Lim come from?
    From Korean, including 임 (Im), 林 or 任; 림 (Rim), 林.
    How common is the surname Lim?
    37,021 people in the United States had the surname Lim in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 8,340 Americans. It ranked 936th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Lim?
    In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Lim identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 3.0% as two or more races.
    Who is the most famous person named Lim?
    Liza Lim, Australian composer.
    Where is the surname Lim most common?
    Wikidata records people named Lim in Australia.
    Is the surname Lim getting more or less common?
    More common. 27,433 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 37,021 in 2010, up 35%.
    What are other spellings of Lim?
    Rhim, Lin and Lam.