The origin and meaning of the surname Lifshitz is not clear, although there have been several proposals. It is also not clear if there is any familial relationship between families that use the name or its variants. Although Lifshitz became a somewhat common Jewish surname in Eastern and Central Europe as Jews stopped using traditional patronymic names during the 1750-1850 period, many and perhaps most modern descendants of Lifshitz families use one of many anglicized versions of the name. For all these reasons, it is not meaningful to simply refer to "the Lifshitz surname."
The Geni project "Jewish Lifshitz-Lipschitz-Lipshitz-Lifschitz-Lipschutz Families" serves genealogists with Jewish family members surnamed Lifshitz or any of its many variants.