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

Finke, 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 Finke surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Finke in America

Finke is the 9578th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Finke surname appeared 3,394 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 Finke.

We can also compare 2010 data for Finke 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 Finke

The surname Finke originates from Germany, with its earliest known records dating back to the 12th century. The name is believed to have derived from the Old German word "finko," meaning "finch," suggesting that the original bearers of the name may have been associated with finches or related bird species.

One of the earliest documented references to the Finke surname can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Anhaltinus, a collection of historical documents from the Anhalt region of Germany, dating back to the year 1195. The entry mentions a certain "Conradus Finke" as a witness to a land transaction.

The Finke surname also appears in several other medieval German records, including the Liber Censuum, a tax register from the city of Cologne in the 14th century, which lists several individuals with the surname Finke residing in the city at that time.

In the 16th century, a prominent figure bearing the Finke surname was Johann Finke (1492-1557), a German historian and professor at the University of Ingolstadt. He is known for his work on the history of the Council of Constance, a significant event in the history of the Catholic Church.

Another notable individual with the Finke surname was Heinrich Finke (1855-1938), a German historian and priest who specialized in the study of the Renaissance period. He authored several works on the history of the papacy and the Church during that era.

In the 19th century, Wilhelm Finke (1832-1901) was a German architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings in Berlin, including the Reichstagssgebäude (Imperial Diet Building) and the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery).

The Finke surname has also been associated with various place names in Germany, such as Finkenherd and Finkenhain, which may have influenced the development of the surname in certain regions.

While the Finke surname is most commonly found in Germany, it has also spread to other parts of Europe and other continents through migration and immigration patterns over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Finke

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

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

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

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