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

Kovalak, 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 Kovalak surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kovalak in America

Kovalak is the 110825th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kovalak surname appeared 159 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 Kovalak.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kovalak 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 Kovalak

The surname Kovalak is of Ukrainian origin, stemming from the region of Kyiv and surrounding areas in the 15th century. The name is derived from the Ukrainian word "koval," meaning "blacksmith," and likely referred to an ancestor who worked as a smith or metalworker.

Historical records indicate that the earliest documented use of the Kovalak surname can be found in church registers and census data from the towns of Pereiaslav and Chernihiv, dating back to the late 16th century. The name was originally spelled with various variations, such as Kovaliak, Kovalenko, and Kovalchuk, reflecting regional dialects and scribal variations.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Kovalak name was Ivan Kovalak, a blacksmith from the village of Kozelets, who was mentioned in a land deed from 1627. Another notable individual was Hryhorii Kovalak, a Cossack soldier who fought alongside Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century.

In the 18th century, the Kovalak surname began to appear in records from the city of Kharkiv, indicating the migration of families from the central regions to the eastern parts of modern-day Ukraine. One prominent figure from this period was Petro Kovalak, a merchant and landowner who established a successful trading business in Kharkiv in the late 1700s.

As the Kovalak name spread across Ukraine, it also found its way into other Slavic regions. For instance, in the 19th century, a branch of the Kovalak family settled in the Kuban region of southern Russia, where they became prominent farmers and landowners. One notable individual from this branch was Yevhen Kovalak, a Cossack leader who participated in the Caucasian War against the Russian Empire in the 1840s.

Another notable bearer of the Kovalak surname was Oleksandr Kovalak, a Ukrainian writer and poet who lived from 1875 to 1948. He was a prominent figure in the Ukrainian literary renaissance of the early 20th century and contributed to the preservation of Ukrainian cultural identity during the turbulent years of Soviet rule.

While the Kovalak surname remains relatively uncommon outside of Ukraine and parts of Russia, it has left a lasting legacy as a testament to the rich cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people and their historical ties to metalworking and blacksmithing.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kovalak

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

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

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

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