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

Folkers, 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 Folkers surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Folkers in America

Folkers is the 24483rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Folkers surname appeared 1,022 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 Folkers.

We can also compare 2010 data for Folkers 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 Folkers

The surname Folkers is of Germanic origin, specifically from the Low German or Dutch language. It dates back to the 12th century and is believed to have originated in the northern regions of Germany and the Netherlands.

The name Folkers is derived from the Old German word "folc," meaning "people" or "folk." It was likely initially a descriptive surname given to someone who was considered a leader or representative of the common people.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Folkers can be found in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of historical documents from the city of Bremen, Germany, dating back to the 13th century. The name is mentioned in a document from 1278, referring to a person named "Folkero de Horst."

In the 14th century, the name Folkers appeared in various Dutch records, such as the Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland, which contains charters and documents from the provinces of Holland and Zeeland. One notable example is a record from 1349 mentioning a "Jan Folkers" from the city of Dordrecht.

During the Middle Ages, the Folkers name was sometimes spelled with variations like "Folkerts" or "Folkersen," reflecting regional dialects and spelling conventions of the time.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Folkers was Jan Folkers (c. 1420-1490), a Dutch painter and stained glass artist from Haarlem. His work can be found in several churches in the Netherlands, including the St. Bavo Cathedral in Haarlem.

Another notable figure was Pieter Folkers (1619-1697), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still-life paintings and genre scenes. His works can be found in museums across Europe, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

In the 18th century, the Folkers name gained prominence with Johann Folkers (1718-1790), a German mathematician and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and is credited with predicting the return of Halley's Comet in 1759.

During the 19th century, Evert Folkers (1842-1905) was a Dutch politician and jurist who served as the Minister of Justice for the Netherlands from 1897 to 1901.

More recently, there was Gerrit Folkers (1905-1982), a Dutch-American chemist known for his pioneering work in the synthesis of peptides and proteins, laying the foundation for the development of modern pharmaceuticals.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Folkers

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

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

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

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