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

Kraynak, 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 Kraynak surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kraynak in America

Kraynak is the 26910th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kraynak surname appeared 902 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 Kraynak.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kraynak 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 Kraynak

The surname Kraynak is of Slavic origin, traced back to the regions of modern-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It emerged during the late medieval period, around the 14th century. Kraynak is believed to be derived from the Slavic root word "krai," meaning "region" or "territory," possibly indicating that the family's ancestors hailed from a particular locality or village.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Kraynak surname can be found in a 16th-century census record from the town of Žilina, located in the northwestern part of present-day Slovakia. The document, dated 1572, lists a certain Jan Kraynak among the local residents.

In the 17th century, a notable figure bearing the Kraynak surname was Mikulas Kraynak, a respected scholar and theologian born in the town of Bytča, Slovakia, in 1612. Kraynak authored several influential works on religious philosophy and was a prominent figure in the Catholic intellectual circles of his era.

As the Kraynak surname spread across Central and Eastern Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Krajnak, Kraynek, and Krajniak, reflecting the diverse linguistic influences of the regions where the family settled.

In the late 18th century, records show a Frantisek Kraynak who served as a captain in the Austrian Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in 1778 in the town of Trenčín, Slovakia, Kraynak distinguished himself in several battles against the French forces.

Another notable bearer of the Kraynak surname was Jozef Kraynak, a prominent Slovak writer and poet who lived from 1827 to 1891. Kraynak's literary works, which explored themes of national identity and the struggle for Slovak cultural autonomy, played a significant role in the development of modern Slovak literature.

Over the centuries, the Kraynak surname has spread beyond its Central European origins, with families bearing this name found in various parts of the world, including North America and Australia, as a result of immigration waves from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kraynak

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

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

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

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