Frink last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Frink

An occupational surname referring to a maker or seller of French goods or products.

Frink, 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 Frink surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Frink in America

Frink is the 8482nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Frink surname appeared 3,888 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 Frink.

We can also compare 2010 data for Frink 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 8482 8134 4.19%
Count 3,888 3,754 3.51%
Proportion per 100k 1.32 1.39 -5.17%

The history of the last name Frink

The surname Frink originated in England during the medieval period. It is believed to be a variant of the Old English name Franca or Franca, derived from the Germanic "franko" which means "frank" or "free." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone of Frankish descent or a person who was not a serf or a bondsman.

The earliest recorded instances of the Frink surname can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentions individuals with the name Franc and Franke residing in various counties across England, including Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Gloucestershire. Over time, the spelling evolved to Frink, Frinck, and other variations.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Frink surname appeared in various historical records and documents in England. For instance, the Hundred Rolls of 1273 mention a William Frink from Cambridgeshire, and the Subsidy Rolls of 1327 record a John Frink from Worcestershire.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the Frink surname was Sir Thomas Frink (c. 1380-1448), a prominent English landowner and member of Parliament who represented Warwickshire in the House of Commons during the reign of Henry VI.

In the 16th century, the Frink surname was often associated with places like Frinkley, a hamlet in Northamptonshire, and Frinkford, a village in Oxfordshire. These place names may have influenced the spelling and distribution of the surname.

Among the prominent figures with the Frink surname in later centuries were:

  1. John Frink (1616-1675), an early Puritan settler in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  2. Samuel Frink (1635-1697), a colonial-era minister and author from Massachusetts.
  3. Thomas Frink (1766-1846), an American Revolutionary War soldier and farmer from Connecticut.
  4. Henry Clay Frink (1820-1884), an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Representative from West Virginia.
  5. Horace Wemyss Frink (1846-1932), a Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

The Frink surname has remained relatively uncommon throughout its history, but it has been carried by notable individuals across various fields, from politics and law to religion and military service.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Frink

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

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 Frink was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 70.96% 2,759
Non-Hispanic Black Only 23.46% 912
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.59% 23
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.46% 18
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.13% 83
Hispanic Origin 2.39% 93

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 Frink has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 70.96% 72.59% -2.27%
Black 23.46% 23.71% -1.06%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.59% 0.53% 10.71%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.46% 0.21% 74.63%
Two or More Races 2.13% 1.62% 27.20%
Hispanic 2.39% 1.33% 56.99%

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

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

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"Frink last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/frink-surname-popularity/.

"Frink last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/frink-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Frink last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/frink-surname-popularity/.

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