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

Cork, 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 Cork surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cork in America

Cork is the 11709th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cork surname appeared 2,677 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 Cork.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cork 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 Cork

The surname Cork originates from England, where it first emerged in the 13th century. It likely derives from the Old English word "corc," which means "cork tree" or "cork oak." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a cork oak tree or a location associated with cork trees.

In medieval times, Cork was a locational surname, indicating that the bearer hailed from a place called Cork. This could refer to various locations in England, such as Cork in Dorset or Cork Street in London. The earliest known record of the surname is found in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273, where it appears as "de Cork."

The name Cork is also closely linked to the city of Cork in Ireland. While the city's name is of uncertain origin, it may have been named after the Cork family who held lands in the area during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. The earliest recorded instance of the surname in Ireland dates back to 1343, when John de Cork is mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Cloyne.

Historically, the surname Cork has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Sir John de Cork, a 14th-century English knight who served as the Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset in 1356. Another notable bearer was Edmund Cork (1542-1609), an English lawyer and Member of Parliament who served as the Recorder of Bristol.

In the 17th century, Sir Richard Cork (1602-1668) was a prominent English merchant and Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis. His grandson, Richard Cork (1672-1723), inherited the family estate and became the first Earl of Cork and Orrery in 1698.

Moving into the 18th century, Nathaniel Cork (1726-1796) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station during the American Revolutionary War.

One of the most famous individuals with the surname Cork was the British artist and art critic Richard Cork (1947-present), known for his contributions to contemporary art criticism and his writings on artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cork

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

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

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

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