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

Ganske, 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 Ganske surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ganske in America

Ganske is the 33196th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ganske surname appeared 689 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 Ganske.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ganske 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 Ganske

The surname Ganske originates from the German language and is believed to have first appeared in the region of Lower Saxony, Germany, in the medieval period around the 12th century. The name is derived from the Middle Low German word "gans" meaning "goose," suggesting it may have been an occupational name for someone who raised or dealt with geese.

Ganske is a variant spelling of the German surname Gans or Ganse, which also means "goose." The earliest recorded instances of the name Ganske can be found in historical documents from the towns and villages of Lower Saxony, such as church registers and tax records from the 14th and 15th centuries.

One of the earliest documented individuals with the surname Ganske was Hans Ganske, a landowner and farmer who lived in the village of Celle, Lower Saxony, in the late 15th century. Records show that he owned a substantial amount of land and was involved in the local community.

Another notable bearer of the name was Johann Ganske, a merchant and trader who lived in the city of Bremen in the early 16th century. He was a member of the influential Hanseatic League, a powerful commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and towns in Northern Europe.

In the 17th century, the name Ganske appeared in several historical records from the region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in northern Germany. One example is Peter Ganske, a pastor who served in the town of Gnoien from 1642 to 1678.

Moving into the 18th century, there was a prominent family of musicians and composers with the surname Ganske in the city of Hamburg. The most notable among them was Johann Christoph Ganske, who was born in 1685 and served as the organist at the St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg for several decades.

Another individual of note was Friedrich Ganske, a German botanist and naturalist who lived in the 19th century. He was born in 1808 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, and made significant contributions to the study of plant life, particularly in the field of bryology (the study of mosses and liverworts).

Throughout its history, the surname Ganske has been associated with various occupations, from farmers and landowners to merchants, clergy, and scholars, reflecting the diverse backgrounds and experiences of those who bore this name in different parts of Germany over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ganske

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

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

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

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