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

Gerke, 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 Gerke surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gerke in America

Gerke is the 11592nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gerke surname appeared 2,709 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 Gerke.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gerke 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 Gerke

The surname Gerke has its origins in Germany, with records dating back to the early 16th century. It is believed to have originated as a locational name, derived from the town of Gerke or Gerken in the region of Lower Saxony. The name may also be linked to the Old Germanic word "ger," meaning "spear," suggesting that it could have been an occupational name for someone who made or used spears.

One of the earliest documented instances of the Gerke surname can be found in the records of the city of Lüneburg in Lower Saxony, where a person named Hans Gerke was mentioned in 1517. Another early reference comes from the town of Uelzen, also in Lower Saxony, where a certain Jurgen Gerke was recorded in 1568.

The Gerke name appeared in various historical records throughout the following centuries, with spelling variations such as Gercke, Gerken, and Gerkens being common. For example, in the 17th century, a prominent figure named Johann Gerke (1612-1686) was a renowned jurist and legal scholar from the city of Rostock.

During the 18th century, the name gained recognition through individuals like Johann Gerke (1717-1786), a renowned theologian and author from Hildesheim, and Gottfried Gerke (1728-1791), a notable composer and organist from Brunswick.

In the 19th century, the Gerke surname continued to be prevalent, with notable figures such as Gustav Gerke (1820-1890), a German politician and lawyer who served as the Lord Mayor of Berlin from 1886 to 1890. Another notable individual from this period was Otto Gerke (1833-1899), a German-American architect and engineer who designed several prominent buildings in New York City.

As the Gerke family spread across Germany and beyond, the name also took on various localized forms, such as Gerken in the Netherlands and Gerken or Gjerken in Norway and Denmark, reflecting the migration patterns of those bearing the surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gerke

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!