Surname Saturday: Lenertz

Saturday posts are rare at the ol' blog because I like to take the day off. However, my blog friends are starting to post the surnames in their trees on Saturdays (hence the theme Surname Saturday) and I thought I'd play along.

My first surname for a Saturday is the one that started it all: Lenertz. It's rather uncommon and one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. I wanted to learn more about it and meet others who had an interest in the name's history and genealogy.

Here's what I know so far about my Lenertz line. My ancestor came from Luxembourg to Iowa, perhaps in the 1850's. He later moved to Minnesota.

There are other pockets of Lenertz folk out there. I've been browsing late 19th century census records. So far, I've found a clump (is that a proper genealogical term?) in Iowa, one in Minnesota and one in North Dakota (later Montana). In the 20th century, Lenertz families spread out to other states. I don't know if they're connected, but I've been doing an informal one-name study to see if that's the case.

If you are a Lenertz, or have an interest in your family tree, please contact me so we can compare notes.

[Edit] I forgot to mention that there's a group of Lenertz folk in Australia. It seems that from Luxembourg, some went to America and some to Australia. So far, I've found no connection, but I'd like to keep tabs on the Lenertz name Down Under as well.

We're Big in Luxembourg

The Bootcamp for GeneaBloggers blog has a great link to a site called PublicProfiler/worldnames. You can enter a surname and find its origin and prevalence.

With every database, web site, or anything searchable in regard to genealogy, I always use Lenertz as my test surname. There aren't many Lenertz's to begin with and I know where they are. The results I get for Lenertz genealogy in any given search aid tell me how good the product is. I have to say, this time the end result was pretty close.

Here's what I learned:

Luxembourg is a Lenertz hub. There are 93.52 people named Lenertz or every million people there.

There are 1.88 people per million named Lenertz in the United States.

Minot, North Dakota and Mankato, Minnesota are the top U.S. cities for the name Lenertz. My Lenertz line hailed from Mankato, and originally came from Luxembourg. I knew there was a Lenertz pocket in North Dakota, but didn't realize it was so big. Also, I'm surprised Iowa didn't make the list.

Guess that settles that. Lenertz people are truly one in a million.