Gorbenko last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Gorbenko

A Russian surname derived from the word "gorb" meaning "hump" or "hunchback".

Gorbenko, 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 Gorbenko surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gorbenko in America

Gorbenko is the 133863rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gorbenko surname appeared 126 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 Gorbenko.

The history of the last name Gorbenko

The surname Gorbenko has its origins in Ukraine and Russia, tracing back to the 16th century. It is derived from the old Slavic word "gorb," meaning "hunchback" or "humpback," indicating a physical characteristic or occupation of an ancestor.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Russkaya Pravda, a medieval legal code of Kievan Rus, which mentions a "Gorbenko" among the list of taxpayers in the city of Novgorod around the year 1550.

Another historical reference is the Velvet Book, a collection of documents from the Muscovite Tsardom, which lists a "Grigory Gorbenko" as a landowner in the Tver region in the late 16th century.

In the 17th century, the name appears in several church records and census documents in the regions of Poltava and Chernigov, which were then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

One notable bearer of the name was Ivan Gorbenko (1650-1712), a Cossack commander who fought against the Crimean Tatars and participated in the Azov campaigns under Peter the Great.

Another significant figure was Yakov Gorbenko (1768-1843), a Ukrainian poet and playwright who wrote in the Russian and Ukrainian languages, and was part of the Kharkiv Romantic literary movement.

In more recent times, the surname gained international recognition with Mikhail Gorbachev (born 1931), the last leader of the Soviet Union, who implemented the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). Although not directly related to the Gorbenko name, his surname is derived from the same root word "gorb."

Other notable individuals include Aleksandr Gorbenko (1887-1965), a Russian painter and art teacher who was a member of the avant-garde movement in the early 20th century, and Tatyana Gorbenko (1930-2017), a Soviet and Russian actress known for her roles in several classic films.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gorbenko

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

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 Gorbenko was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 99.21% 125
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

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.

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

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

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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!

"Gorbenko last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 29, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/gorbenko-surname-popularity/.

"Gorbenko last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/gorbenko-surname-popularity/. Accessed 29 April, 2025

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

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