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

Karpinski, 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 Karpinski surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Karpinski in America

Karpinski is the 11516th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Karpinski surname appeared 2,731 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Karpinski.

We can also compare 2010 data for Karpinski 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 Karpinski

The surname Karpinski originated in Poland, where it first appeared in the 16th century. It is a Polish habitational name derived from the place name Karpin or Karpiny, which is derived from the Slavic root word "karp" meaning "carp" or "carp fish". This suggests that the name may have referred to someone who lived near a body of water populated by carp or someone who was a fisherman specializing in catching carp.

The earliest known record of the Karpinski surname can be found in the "Akta Metrykalne" (Metrical Records) of the town of Kielce, Poland, from the year 1564. The entry mentions a certain "Maciej Karpinski", who was likely one of the first to bear this surname.

In the 17th century, the Karpinski name can be found in various Polish records, such as the "Księgi Metrykalne" (Parish Registers) of the towns of Krakow and Poznan. One notable bearer of this surname from this period was Jan Karpinski (1580-1653), a Polish poet and writer who is considered one of the foremost representatives of Polish Renaissance literature.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Karpinski surname spread throughout Poland and into other parts of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and Ukraine. A famous bearer of this name was Franciszek Karpinski (1741-1825), a Polish poet, playwright, and fabulist who is often referred to as the "Polish La Fontaine".

Another notable Karpinski was Wacław Karpinski (1809-1847), a Polish mathematician and educator who made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry. He is best known for his work on the theory of algebraic curves and surfaces.

In the 20th century, one of the most prominent individuals with the Karpinski surname was Jakub Karpinski (1927-2010), a Polish mathematician and computer scientist who is considered a pioneer in the field of computational complexity theory. He made important contributions to the study of NP-complete problems and the development of efficient algorithms.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Karpinski

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

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

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

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