Kazak last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Kazak

A Turkic surname referring to a member of a nomadic Central Asian ethnic group.

Kazak, 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 Kazak surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kazak in America

Kazak is the 70403rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kazak surname appeared 278 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 Kazak.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kazak 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 70403 78549 -10.94%
Count 278 226 20.63%
Proportion per 100k 0.09 0.08 11.76%

The history of the last name Kazak

The surname Kazak originates from the Central Asian region, specifically from the areas that are now modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, sometime between the 10th and 13th centuries.

The name Kazak is derived from the Turkic word "qazaq," which means "wanderer" or "free man." This etymology suggests that the surname was initially associated with nomadic groups or tribes that roamed the vast steppes of Central Asia, leading a semi-nomadic lifestyle.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Kazak can be found in the writings of Persian historian Rashid al-Din, who lived during the 13th and 14th centuries. In his work, he refers to a group of Turkic nomads known as the "Qazaqs," providing valuable insight into the origins of the name.

The surname Kazak gained prominence during the period of the Golden Horde, a Mongol-Turkic khanate that ruled over vast territories in Eurasia from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Several notable figures bearing the name Kazak emerged during this time, including Kazak Khan, a influential leader of the Nogai Horde, a breakaway group from the Golden Horde, who lived in the late 15th century.

Another historically significant individual with the surname Kazak was Kazak Bey, a prominent military commander and statesman who served under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. He played a crucial role in the Ottoman campaigns against the Safavid Empire in the region of modern-day Iran and Iraq.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Kazak was closely associated with the Kazakh Khanate, a powerful nomadic state that controlled vast territories in Central Asia. One of the most renowned figures from this period was Kazak Sultan, a influential leader of the Kazakh Khanate who ruled in the late 17th century.

In the 19th century, the name Kazak gained further recognition with the rise of the Kazakh national identity and the eventual formation of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. One notable figure from this era was Kazak Batyr, a celebrated Kazakh military leader and rebel who fought against the Russian Empire's expansion into Central Asia in the mid-19th century.

Throughout its history, the surname Kazak has been associated with various place names and locations across Central Asia, including the city of Kazak (now known as Kyzylorda) in modern-day Kazakhstan, and the Kazak Steppe, a vast grassland region that stretches across parts of Kazakhstan and Russia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kazak

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

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 Kazak was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.96% 264
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.16% 6
Hispanic Origin 2.52% 7

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.96% 91.59% 3.61%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 2.16% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 2.52% 4.87% -63.60%

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

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

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"Kazak last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 16, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/kazak-surname-popularity/.

"Kazak last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/kazak-surname-popularity/. Accessed 16 July, 2025

Kazak last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/kazak-surname-popularity/.

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