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

Kaczynski, 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 Kaczynski surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kaczynski in America

Kaczynski is the 19590th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kaczynski surname appeared 1,377 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 Kaczynski.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kaczynski 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 Kaczynski

The surname Kaczynski is of Polish origin, derived from the word "kaczka" which means "duck" in the Polish language. It likely originated in the late medieval period, around the 15th or 16th century, as a descriptive surname given to someone who lived near a pond or area where ducks were prevalent.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the village of Kaczynki, located in the Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. This village name, from which the surname is presumed to have derived, dates back to at least the 16th century.

In the 17th century, there are records of a Polish noble family bearing the Kaczynski name, suggesting that some members of this lineage attained a certain level of social status and prominence during that time.

The 18th century saw the emergence of a notable Kaczynski figure, Jan Kaczynski (1737-1812), a Polish military officer who served in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Army and played a role in the Kosciuszko Uprising against Imperial Russia and Prussia.

Moving into the 19th century, a notable individual with this surname was Józef Kaczynski (1825-1887), a Polish botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plant species in the Carpathian Mountains region.

In the 20th century, one of the most well-known individuals with the Kaczynski name was Theodore John Kaczynski (1942-), also known as the "Unabomber," who carried out a series of mail bombings in the United States between 1978 and 1995.

Another notable figure from the 20th century was Leszek Kaczynski (1949-2010), a Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until his tragic death in the 2010 Smolensk air disaster. His identical twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski (born 1949), is also a prominent Polish politician and currently serves as the leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

While the Kaczynski surname has its roots in Poland, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly in areas with significant Polish diaspora communities, such as the United States and Canada.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kaczynski

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

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

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

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