Finkelstein Surname

37,955th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 13,872 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Israel

Finkelstein Surname Definition:

“Carbuncle Stone”. Abbreviation for German Karfunkelstein, used in jewellery.

Read More About This Surname

Finkelstein Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States8,2621:43,8715,373
Israel3,1811:2,690352
Canada5861:62,8767,356
Argentina4451:96,0538,090
France3321:200,06831,101
Australia2031:132,98414,423
South Africa1671:324,41730,492
Germany1201:670,87952,024
Brazil1041:2,058,40765,034
Chile751:234,8867,175
England731:763,26141,903
Mexico691:1,798,93117,818
Poland551:691,06859,060
Dominican Republic311:336,54611,471
Denmark271:209,06416,975
Belgium201:574,83253,219
Thailand141:5,045,596363,835
Singapore131:423,66918,211
Sweden111:895,16066,831
Uruguay91:381,30622,825
Russia81:18,015,382436,635
Belarus81:1,187,63277,603
Switzerland61:1,368,81977,571
Jamaica61:478,32410,136
Venezuela51:6,040,81547,898
Colombia51:9,554,81425,159
Peru41:7,946,03141,846
Luxembourg31:193,5147,046
Hong Kong31:2,445,1619,595
Norway21:2,571,14395,402
Romania21:10,038,93580,612
Scotland21:2,676,90851,579
Ukraine21:22,761,348425,733
Greece21:5,539,895129,142
Austria11:8,515,435118,036
New Zealand11:4,528,32355,372
China11:1,367,321,56651,149
Czechia11:10,633,469206,023
DR Congo11:73,879,570260,543
Bahamas11:391,7512,737
Turkmenistan11:5,489,11211,427
Turkey11:77,821,422191,047
Estonia11:1,321,80440,178
Botswana11:2,186,92930,250
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Slovakia11:5,336,450140,422
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
Portugal11:10,418,24125,048
Netherlands11:16,887,176156,465
Philippines11:101,238,223404,861
Bulgaria11:6,978,90586,260
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England151:1,625,02553,310
Scotland31:1,247,73924,719
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States1061:473,76133,810

Finkelstein (18) may also be a first name.

Finkelstein Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

“Carbuncle Stone”. Abbreviation for German Karfunkelstein, used in jewellery.

South African Surnames (1965) by Eric Rosenthal

(German) Pyrites; descendant of Finkel (little bird), with the addition of “stein" to give the name a German look and sound.

Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

(an invented surname) or (from the name of a female ancestor) The Yiddish for pyrite, a mineral which, according to folklore, brought good luck and was, therefore, selected as a family name. A second possibility is that it is a matronym from Finkel, a popular name for Jewish women in medieval Germany.

— Rabbi Benzion Kaganoff

User-submitted Reference

A surname from Old High German, meaning 'spark stone'. Funkelstein meant pyrite (Adler German-English Dictionary, 1864). The Yiddish version of pyrite, finkelstein, could have denoted bareketh, one of the 12 tribe stones of High Priest's breastplate (Exodus 28:17). Common amongst Ashkenazi Jews.

- rayj

Finkelstein Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Finkelstein Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname Finkelstein is found in The United States more than any other country or territory. It can also occur as:. For other possible spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Finkelstein? popularity and diffusion

The last name is the 37,955th most prevalent family name at a global level It is held by approximately 1 in 525,342 people. The surname Finkelstein occurs mostly in The Americas, where 68 percent of Finkelstein are found; 63 percent are found in North America and 61 percent are found in Anglo-North America. Finkelstein is also the 2,608,198th most commonly held first name internationally, held by 18 people.

This surname is most frequently used in The United States, where it is carried by 8,262 people, or 1 in 43,871. In The United States it is most common in: New York, where 29 percent reside, Florida, where 11 percent reside and California, where 10 percent reside. Other than The United States it is found in 50 countries. It is also common in Israel, where 23 percent reside and Canada, where 4 percent reside.

Finkelstein Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Finkelstein has changed over time. In The United States the number of people bearing the Finkelstein surname expanded 7,794 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it expanded 487 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Scotland it fell 33 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Finkelstein Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Finkelstein last name are 41.96% more likely to be registered Democrats than the national average, with 95.19% being registered to vote for the party.

The amount Finkelstein earn in different countries varies greatly. In Peru they earn 185.09% more than the national average, earning S/. 55,264 per year; in South Africa they earn 81.25% more than the national average, earning R 430,716 per year; in United States they earn 31.81% more than the national average, earning $56,874 USD per year and in Canada they earn 48.36% more than the national average, earning $73,711 CAD per year.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Finkelstein
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis