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

Kitay, 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 Kitay surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kitay in America

Kitay is the 69392nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kitay surname appeared 283 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 Kitay.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kitay 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 Kitay

The surname KITAY is believed to have originated in Russia, likely during the 16th or 17th century. It is derived from the Russian word "kitai," meaning "China" or "Chinese," suggesting that the name may have been given to someone who had connections with China or was of Chinese descent.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname KITAY can be found in the Velizh census of 1677, where a man named Ivan Kitay is listed as a resident of the town of Velizh, located in the Smolensk region of Russia. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 17th century.

In the 18th century, the KITAY surname appears in various Russian historical documents, including church records and military registers. Notable individuals with this surname during this period include Stepan Kitay, a merchant from Moscow who lived around 1750, and Yegor Kitay, a soldier who fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774.

As the Russian Empire expanded its territories in the 19th century, the KITAY surname spread to other regions, including Siberia and Central Asia. One prominent figure with this name was Vasily Kitay, a Siberian explorer and trader who lived from 1812 to 1892 and was known for his expeditions to the Far East.

In the early 20th century, the KITAY surname can be found in various Russian literary works and historical accounts. For example, the writer Maxim Gorky mentioned a character named Kitay in his novel "The Life of Klim Samgin," published in 1927.

Other notable individuals with the surname KITAY include Nikolai Kitay (1885-1967), a Russian-born painter and art teacher who emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, and Sergei Kitay (1903-1972), a Soviet physicist and academician who made significant contributions to the field of solid-state physics.

While the surname KITAY has its roots in Russia, it has also been adopted by people of various ethnic backgrounds, including those of Chinese descent, reflecting the name's original meaning and potential connections to China.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kitay

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

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

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

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