Volker
A German masculine name derived from the Germanic folk meaning "people's ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 4 living Americans carry the first name Volker. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Volker today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Volker births was 1960 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Volker. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Volker is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Volkers were born before 1968.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Volker. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
4
~ 1 in 85,688,585 Americans
Peak year
1960
5 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1960 SSA rank
#4,572
Tracked since 1960
Census
Volker in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 558 people with the first name Volker, which placed it at #19,133 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,133
National first-name rank
People counted
558
558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Volker
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Volker is White at 97.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.3%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Volker described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Volker at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.5% · 544
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 7
- Two or more races0.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Popularity
Volker: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Volker by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Volker during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Volker
The name Volker has its origins in the Germanic languages. It is derived from the Old High German word "folc" or "folk," meaning "people" or "nation." The name can be traced back to the early medieval period, around the 5th to 10th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Volker can be found in the Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), which dates back to around the 13th century. In this literary work, Volker is the name of a character who is a brave and skilled warrior.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Volker. One of the most famous was Volker Braun (1939-2022), a renowned German poet and writer who was known for his works that explored themes of social justice and political critique. Another notable figure was Volker Finke (born 1948), a German football manager who led the Cameroon national team to the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2003 African Cup of Nations.
In the realm of science and technology, Volker Heine (1947-2016) was a German theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the field of condensed matter physics and the study of electronic structures in solids. Volker Kempe (born 1941) is a German mathematician known for his work in graph theory and topology.
The name Volker has also been associated with historical figures from earlier periods. For instance, Volker Hoeffer (1512-1573) was a German military commander and diplomat who served under the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during the 16th century.
While the name Volker has its origins in the Germanic languages, it has been adopted and used in various cultures and regions over time. However, its roots can be traced back to the early medieval period, when it was derived from the Old High German word for "people" or "nation," reflecting the significance of community and collective identity in Germanic cultures.
People
Volker + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Volker as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Volker: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Volker?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Volker going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 85,688,585 US residents.
Is Volker a common name?
We classify Volker as "Very Rare". It ranks above 6.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Volker most popular?
The single biggest year for Volker was 1960, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Volker is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Volker in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 558 people with the name Volker, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,133 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Volker in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Volker?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Volker appears almost entirely male. Of the 559 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Volker?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Volker is White at 97.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.3%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Volker most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Volker in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.5% (544 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Volker in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Volker a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Volker in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Volker still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Volker in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Volker can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Volker?
See how many people have the name Volker on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.