Find out how popular the last name Anker is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Anker.

Anker, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Anker surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Anker in America

Anker is the 17764th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Anker surname appeared 1,577 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Anker.

We can also compare 2010 data for Anker to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Anker

The surname Anker is of German origin and can be traced back to the 13th century. It is derived from the Middle High German word "anker", meaning "anchor", which was likely an occupational name for someone who worked with anchors or on ships.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Lübecker Oberstadtbuch, a historical record book from the city of Lübeck, Germany, dating back to the 14th century. It mentions a person named Hinrik Anker in the year 1348.

The name Anker is also found in various other historical records from different parts of Germany, such as the Deutsches Familienarchiv, a collection of family records from the 16th to 19th centuries.

In the 17th century, the name Anker appeared in the Lübecker Bürgerbuch, a register of citizens in Lübeck. One notable entry is of Hans Anker, a merchant who lived from 1620 to 1681.

Another historically significant bearer of the name was Johann Peter Anker (1766-1835), a Swiss politician and member of the Tagsatzung, the federal diet of the Swiss Confederacy.

The name Anker can also be found in various place names throughout Germany, such as Ankergrund, a district in the town of Werder an der Havel, and Ankerberg, a hill in the municipality of Etting, Bavaria.

Other notable individuals with the surname Anker include:

1. Albert Anker (1831-1910), a Swiss painter known for his genre scenes depicting everyday life in Switzerland.
2. Peder Anker (1749-1824), a Norwegian merchant and shipowner who played a significant role in the early industrialization of Norway.
3. Gertrud Anker (1915-2005), a Norwegian actress who appeared in several films and television shows throughout her career.
4. Robert Anker (1837-1908), a German-American businessman and politician who served as the 29th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1890 to 1892.
5. Olav Anker (1921-2007), a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II and a prominent businessman after the war.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Anker

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Anker.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Anker was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Anker has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Anker was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Anker, please contact us.

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