Bakker last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Bakker

An occupational surname referring to a baker or someone who works with bread and baked goods.

Bakker, 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 Bakker surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bakker in America

Bakker is the 9583rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bakker surname appeared 3,392 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 Bakker.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bakker 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 9583 9712 -1.34%
Count 3,392 3,069 10.00%
Proportion per 100k 1.15 1.14 0.87%

The history of the last name Bakker

The surname Bakker is of Dutch origin, originating from the Netherlands in the Middle Ages. It is an occupational name derived from the Middle Dutch word "backer" or "bakker," meaning "baker." The name likely originated as a way to identify individuals who worked as bakers or were associated with the baking trade.

The earliest known record of the surname Bakker dates back to the 13th century. It appears in various historical documents and records from the Netherlands, such as the Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland, which contains charters and deeds from the region. The name was particularly prevalent in areas where baking and the production of bread were important economic activities.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Bakker was Gerrit Bakker, a baker from Amsterdam who lived in the late 15th century. He was mentioned in several municipal records related to the bakers' guild and the regulation of bread production in the city.

In the 16th century, the name Bakker appeared in the famous "Batavia" manuscript, a record of the Dutch East India Company's settlement in present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. This manuscript mentioned a Jan Bakker, who was one of the early settlers in the region.

The surname Bakker also has a connection to several place names in the Netherlands. For example, the village of Bakkeveen, located in the province of Friesland, is believed to have derived its name from the presence of bakers or bakeries in the area.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Bakker. One such person was Adriaen Bakker (1637-1709), a Dutch painter known for his still-life paintings and landscapes. Another was Balthasar Bakker (1768-1838), a Dutch playwright and poet who wrote several popular comedies in the early 19th century.

In more recent times, Cornelis Johannes Bakker (1904-1980) was a prominent Dutch botanist and taxonomist who made significant contributions to the study of plant species in Indonesia and the Netherlands East Indies. Additionally, Robert Jan Bakker (born 1945) is a well-known American paleontologist and author, best known for his contributions to the study of dinosaur behavior and his popular books on dinosaurs.

Overall, the surname Bakker has a rich history rooted in the Netherlands, reflecting the importance of the baking trade in the region's cultural and economic fabric. Its enduring presence over centuries highlights the longevity and significance of this occupational surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bakker

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

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 Bakker was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 92.90% 3,151
Non-Hispanic Black Only 2.77% 94
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.27% 43
Hispanic Origin 2.27% 77

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 Bakker has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 92.90% 94.88% -2.11%
Black 2.77% 1.92% 36.25%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 0.65% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% 0.20% (S)%
Two or More Races 1.27% 0.98% 25.78%
Hispanic 2.27% 1.37% 49.45%

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 Bakker was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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"Bakker last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bakker-surname-popularity/.

"Bakker last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bakker-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Bakker last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/bakker-surname-popularity/.

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