2000
#5,986
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,298
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.96
Rare Last name
Fick
A German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational surname referring to a person who trapped birds or made traps.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 5,542 Americans carry the last name Fick. That puts it at #6,709 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.62 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 61,847 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Fick 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
5.5K
1 in 61,847
Census rank
#6,709
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.6
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
4.8K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 4,833 bearers of the surname Fick in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.62 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 6709th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Fick, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Fick
The surname Fick has its origins in Germany and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is believed to have derived from the Old High German word "ficko," meaning "little man" or "little one." This term was often used as a nickname or a descriptor for someone of small stature or a young child.
In the early days, the name was primarily concentrated in the regions of Bavaria and Saxony, where it first appeared in historical records. One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, dating back to the 13th century.
The Fick surname also made an appearance in the famous Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and tenants in England compiled in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. This suggests that individuals bearing this name may have migrated from Germany to England during the Norman Conquest or shortly thereafter.
One notable figure with the surname Fick was Johann Fick, a German mathematician and physicist born in 1835. He made significant contributions to the field of elasticity theory and is known for developing the Fick's laws of diffusion, which describe the movement of particles within a fluid or solid.
Another prominent individual was Adolf Fick, a German physiologist born in 1829. He is best remembered for his pioneering work on the diffusion of gases, which laid the foundation for the understanding of respiratory physiology and gas exchange in living organisms.
In the realm of literature, the name Fick can be associated with the German writer Gustav Fick, born in 1867. He was a prolific author known for his novels and short stories depicting life in rural Germany during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Moving to the United States, one notable figure was Adolph Fick, a German-American inventor born in 1858. He is credited with developing the first successful beer bottle cap, which revolutionized the beer industry and helped to preserve the freshness and quality of bottled beer.
Finally, the surname Fick has also been associated with the town of Ficksburg in South Africa, which was named after a Dutch settler named Fick who established a farm in the area in the early 19th century.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fick
Among Census respondents with the surname Fick, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Fick 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 Fick surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.9% · 4,393
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 179
- Two or more races3.5% · 169
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 38
- Black or African American0.8% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 17
Timeline
Historical Census data for Fick
Fick 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.
2010
#6,405
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,311
+13 bearers (+0.2%)
Per 100,000 1.80
Rank movement Down 419 places
2020
#6,709
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,833
-478 bearers (-9.0%)
Per 100,000 1.62
Rank movement Down 304 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #5,986 | 5,298 | 1.96 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #6,405 | 5,311 | 1.80 | +13 bearers (+0.2%) | Down 419 places |
| 2020 | #6,709 | 4,833 | 1.62 | -478 bearers (-9.0%) | Down 304 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
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Fick surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #6,405 | #6,709 | -4.7% |
| Count | 5,311 | 4,833 | -9.0% |
| Per 100K | 1.80 | 1.62 | -10.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Fick bearers went from 5,311 to 4,833 (-9.0% change). The surname moved down 304 positions in the national ranking, going from #6,405 to #6,709.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Fick
FAQ
Fick surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Fick?
Name Census estimates that about 5,542 living Americans carry the surname Fick. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 61,847 residents.
How common is Fick?
Fick ranks #6,709 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.62 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 4,833 people with the surname Fick. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (5,542), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.62 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.62 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Fick.
Has Fick become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Fick went from 5,311 recorded bearers to 4,833. That is a decrease of 478 (-9.0%). In the national ranking it fell from #6,405 to #6,709.
What does the Census say about the background of Fick?
Among Census respondents with the surname Fick, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.7%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Fick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.9% (4,393 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Fick appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (90.9%), Hispanic (3.7%), Two or More Races (3.5%). 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.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
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 Fick (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
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.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
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.
What does Fick mean?
A German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational surname referring to a person who trapped birds or made traps. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
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.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
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 Fick (1.62 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Fick?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans have the surname Fick at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.