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

Ihrke, 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 Ihrke surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ihrke in America

Ihrke is the 32935th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ihrke surname appeared 696 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 Ihrke.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ihrke 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 Ihrke

The surname Ihrke is of German origin, emerging in the late Middle Ages, around the 14th century. It is believed to have originated from the Low German word "Ihre," meaning "their" or "them," possibly referring to a person or family's ownership of land or possessions.

Ihrke first appeared in historical records in the region of Lower Saxony, Germany, where it was commonly spelled as "Ihrke" or "Ihrken." This surname was particularly prominent in the areas around the cities of Hannover and Braunschweig.

One of the earliest documented instances of the name Ihrke can be found in the Bürgeraufnahmen (citizen records) of the city of Braunschweig, which mentions a certain Hans Ihrke in 1487.

In the 16th century, the surname Ihrke was also found in other parts of northern Germany, such as the Duchy of Mecklenburg and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. It is believed that some Ihrke families migrated to these regions during this time.

Notably, in the early 17th century, a prominent figure named Johann Ihrke (1580-1648) was a Lutheran theologian and academic who served as a professor at the University of Rostock. His works on Protestant theology were widely influential during the Reformation era.

Another notable individual was Friedrich Wilhelm Ihrke (1783-1857), a German industrialist and entrepreneur who established one of the first textile factories in the town of Bielefeld. His success in the textile industry contributed to the economic growth of the region.

In the 19th century, several Ihrke families immigrated to the United States, settling in areas with significant German communities, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. One of the earliest recorded Ihrke immigrants was Johann Ihrke, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1854.

A prominent American bearing the surname Ihrke was Henry Ihrke (1871-1945), a politician from Minnesota who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1917 to 1923.

While the surname Ihrke is not as common today as it once was in Germany, it continues to be carried by families with roots in northern Germany, particularly in the regions of Lower Saxony and Westphalia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ihrke

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ihrke, 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!