Explore the Family Name Lief

The meaning of Lief

1. English: variant of Leaf. 2. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from Livonia (now a part of Latvia), from German Liv. Some characteristic forenames: Jewish Varda, Meyer.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Lief in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Lief has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Lief was ranked as the 54,766th most popular surname in the United States with a count of 352. By 2010, its rank had dropped to 60,636 and the count had decreased to 332, reflecting a change of -10.72 in rank and -5.68 in count respectively. The proportion of individuals with this surname per 100k population also decreased from 0.13 in 2000 to 0.11 in 2010, a change of -15.38.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#54,766	#60,636	-10.72%
Count	352	332	-5.68%
Proportion per 100k	0.13	0.11	-15.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Lief

The ethnicity associated with the surname Lief in the U.S. has shown marginal shifts between 2000 and 2010 according to Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, the majority of people carrying the Lief surname identified as White (96.88%), followed by a small percentage identifying as Hispanic (1.70%). No individuals identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, two or more races, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native. In 2010, the proportion of individuals identifying as White slightly decreased to 95.18%, whereas the proportion identifying as Hispanic increased to 2.41%. There was also an emergence of a small percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander (1.51%) while the other ethnic identities remained unchanged.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.88%	95.18%	-1.75%
Hispanic	1.7%	2.41%	41.76%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.51%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%