2000
#140,756
National surname rank
First available Census row
An occupational surname denoting a baker or baker's assistant.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 125 Americans carry the last name Bakalyar. That puts it at #150,205 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,742,035 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Bakalyar surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
125
1 in 2,742,035
Census rank
#150,205
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
109
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 109 bearers of the surname Bakalyar in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 150205th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Bakalyar, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%).
Origin
The surname BAKALYAR originated in Ukraine, traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Ukrainian word "bakaliar," meaning a student or a bachelor. The name likely originated as an occupational surname, referring to someone who was a student or a scholar.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the BAKALYAR surname appeared in various historical records and manuscripts in Ukraine, particularly in the regions of Kyiv, Poltava, and Chernihiv. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was in a church register from the village of Velyka Bahachka, near Poltava, dated 1612.
The surname BAKALYAR can also be found in some place names in Ukraine, such as the village of Bakalyarka in the Kharkiv region, which may have been named after an early settler with this surname.
One notable bearer of the BAKALYAR surname was Hryhoriy Bakalyar (1593-1656), a Ukrainian Orthodox priest and writer from the Kyiv region. He authored several religious works and was known for his sermons.
Another historical figure with this surname was Petro Bakalyar (1742-1816), a Ukrainian Cossack and military leader who fought against the Russian Empire during the Kholodny Yar Uprising in the late 18th century.
In the 19th century, Yuriy Bakalyar (1818-1897) was a prominent Ukrainian historian and ethnographer who studied the history and culture of the Cossacks.
Ivan Bakalyar (1870-1942) was a Ukrainian painter known for his landscapes and depictions of rural life in Ukraine.
Lastly, Oleksiy Bakalyar (1905-1983) was a Ukrainian linguist and lexicographer who contributed to the development of the Ukrainian language and compiled several dictionaries.
The BAKALYAR surname has been present in Ukraine for centuries and has a rich history tied to the country's cultural and intellectual heritage.
Demographics
Among Census respondents with the surname Bakalyar, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Bakalyar bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Bakalyar surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
Timeline
Bakalyar appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2000
National surname rank
First available Census row
2010
National surname rank
+1 bearers (+0.9%)
2020
National surname rank
-1 bearers (-0.9%)
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #140,756 | 109 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #149,395 | 110 | 0.04 | +1 bearers (+0.9%) | Down 8,639 places |
| 2020 | #150,205 | 109 | 0.04 | -1 bearers (-0.9%) | Down 810 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
How has the Bakalyar surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #149,395 | #150,205 | -0.5% |
| Count | 110 | 109 | -0.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -8.8% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Bakalyar bearers went from 110 to 109 (-0.9% change). The surname moved down 810 positions in the national ranking, going from #149,395 to #150,205.
FAQ
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the surname Bakalyar. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,742,035 residents.
Bakalyar ranks #150,205 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
The raw 2020 Census file counted 109 people with the surname Bakalyar. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (125), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Bakalyar.
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Bakalyar went from 110 recorded bearers to 109. That is a decrease of 1 (-0.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #149,395 to #150,205.
Among Census respondents with the surname Bakalyar, the largest self-reported group is White at 89.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (2.8%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Bakalyar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.0% (97 people in the source table).
Bakalyar appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (89.0%), Two or More Races (6.4%), Hispanic (2.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Bakalyar (2000, 2010, 2020).
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
An occupational surname denoting a baker or baker's assistant. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Bakalyar (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
See how common the surname Bakalyar is on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.