Karasik last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Karasik

A surname of uncertain origins, possibly derived from a regional nickname or place name.

Karasik, 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 Karasik surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Karasik in America

Karasik is the 41799th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Karasik surname appeared 520 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 Karasik.

We can also compare 2010 data for Karasik 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.

20102000Change (%)
Rank41799416570.34%
Count5204925.53%
Proportion per 100k0.180.180.00%

The history of the last name Karasik

The surname Karasik has its origins in the Yiddish language, which was spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Eastern and Central Europe. It is believed to have derived from the Yiddish word "karash," meaning a vessel used for cooking or boiling water. This suggests that the name may have referred to an occupation or trade associated with pottery or metalwork.

The earliest records of the Karasik surname can be traced back to the 17th century in the regions of modern-day Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. It was commonly found in Jewish communities across these areas, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time.

One of the earliest documented instances of the name can be found in the Responsa literature, a collection of rabbinical legal writings from the 17th century. A renowned scholar and rabbi, Isaac ben Abraham Karasik, was mentioned in these works, though his exact dates of birth and death are uncertain.

In the late 18th century, the Karasik surname appeared in the town of Kremenets, located in what is now western Ukraine. A prominent figure from this period was Yehuda Leib Karasik, a respected scholar and author who lived between 1738 and 1811.

As the Jewish population dispersed throughout Eastern Europe and beyond, the Karasik name spread to other regions. In the 19th century, Chaim Karasik, born in 1825 in the city of Vilnius (then part of the Russian Empire), became a notable figure in the Haskalah movement, which sought to promote secular education and cultural enlightenment among Jewish communities.

Another notable bearer of the Karasik surname was Yitzchak Yaakov Karasik, a prominent rabbi and author from the town of Rakishok (now in Lithuania), who lived from 1837 to 1909.

In the early 20th century, the name Karasik continued to be associated with Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, with individuals such as Zalman Karasik, a Zionist activist and author from Belarus, who lived from 1892 to 1976.

While the surname Karasik has its roots in Eastern European Jewish communities, it has since spread globally due to migration and diaspora. However, its origins can be traced back to the Yiddish language and the occupations or trades associated with pottery and metalwork in the region.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Karasik

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

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 Karasik was:

Race/EthnicityPercentageTotal Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only95.58%497
Non-Hispanic Black Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only(S)%(S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races1.15%6
Hispanic Origin3.08%16

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 Karasik has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

20102000Change (%)
White95.58%95.73%-0.16%
Black(S)%(S)%(S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander(S)%(S)%(S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0.00%0.00%0.00%
Two or More Races1.15%1.83%-45.64%
Hispanic3.08%2.03%41.10%

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

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

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