Guck last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Guck

A German surname derived from the word for "look" or "peep".

Guck, 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 Guck surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Guck in America

Guck is the 39164th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Guck surname appeared 562 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 Guck.

We can also compare 2010 data for Guck 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 39164 38320 2.18%
Count 562 543 3.44%
Proportion per 100k 0.19 0.20 -5.13%

The history of the last name Guck

The surname Guck has its origins in Germany, specifically in the northern regions near the Baltic Sea. It is believed to have emerged around the 14th century, derived from the Low German word "guck," which means "to look" or "to peek." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with occupations or characteristics related to watchfulness or observation.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Guck can be found in the town records of Lübeck, a prominent medieval city in northern Germany, dating back to the late 15th century. The name appeared in various spellings, such as Gucke, Gucken, and Gucken, reflecting the regional dialects and orthographic variations common at the time.

In the 16th century, the surname Guck is mentioned in the records of the Hanseatic League, a powerful trading alliance that dominated the maritime trade in the Baltic and North Sea regions. This connection suggests that the name may have been associated with merchants, seafarers, or individuals involved in the thriving trade networks of the time.

Notable individuals with the surname Guck include Johann Guck (1536-1603), a German theologian and author who wrote extensively on religious subjects during the Protestant Reformation. Another figure worth mentioning is Wilhelm Guck (1790-1858), a Prussian military officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and later became a prominent advocate for military reforms.

In the 19th century, the surname Guck appeared in various regions of Germany, with clusters found in northern cities like Hamburg and Berlin. One notable bearer of the name was Karl Guck (1825-1891), a German painter and illustrator known for his landscapes and historical scenes.

The name Guck also spread beyond Germany's borders, carried by emigrants and settlers. In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the surname can be traced back to Johannes Guck, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1751 from the Palatinate region of Germany.

Throughout its history, the surname Guck has maintained a presence in various parts of Germany and other German-speaking regions, with individuals bearing this name making contributions in fields such as religion, military, arts, and more.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Guck

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

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 Guck was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 97.15% 546
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 1.42% 8
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
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.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Guck has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 97.15% 95.40% 1.82%
Black 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.42% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic (S)% 2.58% (S)%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Guck last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on June 22, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/guck-surname-popularity/.

"Guck last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/guck-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 June, 2025

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

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