Bednarek last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Bednarek

A Polish surname derived from the word "bednarz" meaning a cooper or barrel maker.

Bednarek, 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 Bednarek surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bednarek in America

Bednarek is the 20285th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bednarek surname appeared 1,311 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Bednarek.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bednarek 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 20285 20343 -0.29%
Count 1,311 1,215 7.60%
Proportion per 100k 0.44 0.45 -2.25%

The history of the last name Bednarek

The surname Bednarek is of Polish origin, derived from the Polish word "bednarz" which means "cooper" or "barrel maker". It dates back to at least the 16th century in Poland, when occupational surnames became more commonly used.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bednarek can be found in the parish records of the village of Kozienice, located in the Masovian Voivodeship of central Poland, dating back to the late 1600s. The name was particularly prevalent in this region, as well as in other parts of central and eastern Poland.

In the 19th century, the Bednarek surname began to appear more frequently in historical records and documents. One notable example is Jan Bednarek (1823-1897), a Polish writer and journalist who was active in the Polish independence movement during the partitions of Poland.

Another historical figure with the Bednarek surname was Karol Bednarek (1887-1944), a Polish Roman Catholic priest and member of the resistance movement during World War II. He was executed by the German Nazis in 1944 for his involvement in the Polish Underground State.

The name Bednarek can also be traced back to the village of Bednarka, located in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship of south-central Poland. This place name likely originated from the occupational surname, indicating a settlement where coopers or barrel makers resided.

In addition to Poland, the Bednarek surname has also been found in other Slavic countries, such as Ukraine and Belarus, likely due to the migration of Polish families to these regions over the centuries.

Other notable individuals with the Bednarek surname include Józef Bednarek (1907-1986), a Polish sculptor and art educator, and Józef Bednarek (1932-2004), a Polish actor and theater director. Henryk Bednarek (1914-1985) was a Polish chess player and International Master, while Stanisław Bednarek (1914-1993) was a Polish footballer who played for Wisła Kraków.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bednarek

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

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 Bednarek was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 97.71% 1,281
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.46% 6
Hispanic Origin 1.37% 18

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 97.71% 97.53% 0.18%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 0.46% 0.41% 11.49%
Hispanic 1.37% 1.56% -12.97%

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

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

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"Bednarek last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 26, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bednarek-surname-popularity/.

"Bednarek last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bednarek-surname-popularity/. Accessed 26 July, 2024

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

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