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

Karas, 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 Karas surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Karas in America

Karas is the 5890th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Karas surname appeared 5,858 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Karas.

We can also compare 2010 data for Karas 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 Karas

The surname Karas has its origins in Lithuania and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Lithuanian word "kara," which means "war" or "battle." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who was a warrior or soldier.

The earliest recorded instance of the Karas surname can be found in the Metrica of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a historical record of the Lithuanian nobility and gentry from the 15th to the 18th century. In these records, the name appears as "Karas" and "Karasius."

One notable individual bearing the Karas surname was Jonas Karalius (1561-1629), a Lithuanian nobleman and military leader who served as the Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1619 to 1629. He played a crucial role in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's victory over the Swedish Empire in the Polish-Swedish War (1626-1629).

Another historical figure with the Karas surname was Mykolas Karas (1708-1782), a Lithuanian Catholic priest and philosopher. He was a prominent figure in the Lithuanian Enlightenment movement and is best known for his work "Aritmetikos praktika" (The Practice of Arithmetic), published in 1737.

In the 19th century, Antanas Karas (1838-1912) was a Lithuanian writer and publisher. He is remembered for his contributions to the development of Lithuanian literature and his efforts in promoting the Lithuanian language and culture.

The Karas surname can also be found in various place names throughout Lithuania. For instance, the village of Karasiškės, located in the Vilnius district, is believed to have derived its name from the Karas family who once resided there.

It is worth noting that the Karas surname has undergone some spelling variations over time, such as Karasius, Karasius, and Karašius. However, the predominant spelling remains Karas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Karas

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

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

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