Bialek last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Bialek

A Polish surname derived from a color name, likely referring to a person's complexion or hair color.

Bialek, 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 Bialek surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bialek in America

Bialek is the 22856th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bialek surname appeared 1,120 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 Bialek.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bialek 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 22856 23657 -3.44%
Count 1,120 999 11.42%
Proportion per 100k 0.38 0.37 2.67%

The history of the last name Bialek

The surname Bialek is of Polish origin and can be traced back to the early 16th century. It is derived from the Polish word "biały," which means "white." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone with fair hair or a pale complexion.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bialek can be found in the records of the town of Krakow, Poland, dating back to the late 1500s. It is believed that the name was initially concentrated in the southern regions of Poland, particularly around the cities of Krakow and Katowice.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, several individuals bearing the surname Bialek were mentioned in various historical documents and records. For example, Jan Bialek, a farmer from the village of Wawrzeńczyce, was listed in the tax records of 1612. Likewise, Katarzyna Bialek, a seamstress from the city of Krakow, was mentioned in a guild register from 1647.

Throughout the centuries, several variations of the spelling have emerged, including Bialek, Bialik, and Bialik. These variations likely arose due to regional dialects and the evolution of the Polish language over time.

One notable individual with the surname Bialek was Kornel Bialek, a Polish painter and artist who lived from 1902 to 1983. He is best known for his landscape paintings depicting the rural areas of southern Poland.

Another famous bearer of the name was Józef Bialek, a Polish politician and activist who played a significant role in the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. He was born in 1942 and worked tirelessly to promote workers' rights and democratic reforms in Poland.

In the field of literature, Halina Bialek, a Polish poet and writer born in 1930, gained recognition for her works exploring themes of love, loss, and the human experience.

Historically, the surname Bialek has also been associated with certain place names in Poland. For example, the village of Bialek Duży (meaning "Big Bialek") and Bialek Mały (meaning "Little Bialek") in the Lublin region were likely named after early settlers with the Bialek surname.

Overall, the surname Bialek has a rich history rooted in the cultural and linguistic traditions of Poland, with various notable individuals bearing this name contributing to various fields throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bialek

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

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 Bialek was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 96.34% 1,079
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.45% 5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.98% 11
Hispanic Origin 1.88% 21

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 96.34% 98.00% -1.71%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.45% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.98% 0.60% 48.10%
Hispanic 1.88% 1.20% 44.16%

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

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

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"Bialek last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on June 9, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bialek-surname-popularity/.

"Bialek last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bialek-surname-popularity/. Accessed 9 June, 2025

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

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