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

Flake, 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 Flake surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Flake in America

Flake is the 7676th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Flake surname appeared 4,326 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 Flake.

We can also compare 2010 data for Flake 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 Flake

The surname Flake is an English name that originated in the county of Lancashire during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English word "flacca," which means a spot or patch of land. This suggests that the name may have been originally borne by someone who lived near a distinctive or unusual area of land.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the 1332 Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire, where a Roger del Flake is mentioned. This spelling, "del Flake," indicates that the name was originally a locational surname, referring to someone from a specific place.

In the 14th century, the name is also found in the records of the nearby county of Yorkshire. The 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire list a John Flake, suggesting that the name had spread to other parts of northern England by this time.

During the 16th century, the surname Flake began to appear in various spellings, such as Flake, Flayke, and Fleyke. This was a common occurrence due to the lack of standardized spelling rules in those times.

One notable bearer of the name was William Flake, a merchant and alderman of the city of York, who lived from 1520 to 1592. He was a prominent figure in the city's trade guilds and served as the Lord Mayor of York in 1585.

In the 17th century, the Flake surname is found in the parish records of several Lancashire villages, including Chorley and Leyland. A John Flake, born in 1635 in Chorley, is recorded as having served as a soldier in the English Civil War.

Another historical figure with this surname was Thomas Flake, a Quaker minister who lived from 1667 to 1739. He was born in Lancashire and became a prominent preacher, traveling throughout England and America to spread his religious beliefs.

During the 18th century, the Flake name continued to be present in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Records show that a Robert Flake, born in 1712 in Leyland, was a successful farmer and landowner in the area.

In the 19th century, the Flake surname began to appear more widely across England, as well as in other parts of the world due to emigration. One notable individual was William Flake, an English artist born in 1823, who was renowned for his landscape paintings of the countryside around Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Flake

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

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

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

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