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

Knee, 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 Knee surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Knee in America

Knee is the 17530th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Knee surname appeared 1,606 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 Knee.

We can also compare 2010 data for Knee 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 Knee

The surname "KNEE" is believed to have originated in England during the medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old English word "cneo" or "cneu," meaning "knee" or "knuckle." This surname may have been given as a descriptive nickname to someone with a distinctive physical characteristic related to their knees or may have been a locational name referring to a place name containing the word "knee."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname "KNEE" can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire from the year 1199, where a person named Robert Knee is mentioned. The name also appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire from 1327, where a John Knee is listed.

During the 13th century, the surname "KNEE" was found in various parts of England, including Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Gloucestershire. This suggests that the name was not confined to a specific region but had spread across different areas of the country.

In the 16th century, the surname "KNEE" is recorded in the Parish Registers of St. Michael's Church in Coventry, where a Thomas Knee was baptized in 1588. Around the same time, the name appears in the records of the town of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, with a mention of a William Knee in 1597.

Notable individuals with the surname "KNEE" include Richard Knee, a merchant and alderman in the city of Bristol in the late 16th century, and John Knee, a member of the English Parliament who represented the borough of Taunton in Somerset during the 17th century.

In the 18th century, the surname "KNEE" can be found in various parish records across England, such as in the village of Wrington in Somerset, where a family by the name of Knee is recorded in the late 1700s.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname "KNEE" in North America was Robert Knee, who was born in England in 1630 and later immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1650s. He settled in the town of Ipswich and became a prominent member of the community, serving as a selectman and a deputy to the General Court.

Another notable person with the surname "KNEE" was John Knee, an English artist and engraver born in 1793. He was known for his illustrations of architectural subjects and his work was published in various books and periodicals during the early 19th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Knee

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

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

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

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