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

Kunin, 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 Kunin surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kunin in America

Kunin is the 49461st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kunin surname appeared 425 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 Kunin.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kunin 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 Kunin

The surname Kunin is of Russian origin, with its earliest recorded usage dating back to the late 16th century. It is believed to have originated from the Russian word "kun," which translates to "furrier" or "dealer in furs." This suggests that the name may have been initially associated with individuals involved in the fur trade or related professions.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Kunin can be found in various historical records and documents from various regions of the Russian Empire, particularly in the areas of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus. One notable early reference is in the Voskresenskaya census of 1678, which lists several Kunin households in the city of Rylsk (now part of Kursk Oblast, Russia).

The first known recorded instance of the name Kunin dates back to 1592, when a certain Ivan Kunin was mentioned in a land registry document from the town of Mozhaysk, located in the Moscow region. This early record provides evidence of the surname's existence during the reign of Tsar Feodor I, the last ruler of the Rurik Dynasty.

Throughout the centuries, several prominent individuals have borne the surname Kunin. One such figure was Andrei Kunin (1741-1815), a Russian military officer who served in the Imperial Russian Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was awarded the prestigious Order of St. George for his bravery in the Battle of Smolensk in 1812.

Another notable Kunin was Yevgenia Kunina (1853-1924), a Russian artist and portrait painter who studied under the renowned Ilya Repin. Her works were exhibited at the prestigious Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and are now part of several museum collections across Russia.

In the 20th century, one of the most prominent individuals with the surname Kunin was Vladimir Kunin (1903-1991), a Soviet physicist and pioneer in the field of semiconductor research. His contributions to the development of semiconductor devices and materials were instrumental in the advancement of modern electronics.

Maksim Kunin (1896-1967) was a Russian-born American sculptor and artist whose works were featured in numerous exhibitions and public spaces. He is particularly known for his bas-relief sculptures adorning buildings in New York City and other major American cities.

Lastly, Mikhail Kunin (1932-2022) was a notable Russian-American mathematician and computer scientist. He made significant contributions to the fields of computational complexity theory and algorithm design, and his work had a profound impact on the development of modern computer science.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kunin

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

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

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

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