2000
#128,797
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 122
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.05
Very Rare Last name
Letke
Of Scandinavian origin, meaning someone who lived near a small piece of land.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Letke. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Letke surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Letke in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Letke, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Letke
The surname Letke has its origins in Germany, where it first emerged in the late medieval period around the 13th or 14th century. It is believed to have derived from the Germanic word "lette," meaning clay or loam soil, suggesting that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived or worked on clay-rich land.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Letke can be found in the Rottweil city records of 1388, where a certain Hans Letke is mentioned. This suggests that the name was already well-established in the region by that time.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Letke appears to have spread beyond its original heartland in southern Germany. In 1529, a Johannes Letke is recorded as a resident of the town of Merseburg in modern-day Saxony-Anhalt. Later, in 1673, a Michael Letke is mentioned in the parish records of the village of Kleinfrankenhausen, near Gotha in present-day Thuringia.
While not a particularly common surname, Letke has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest was Johann Letke (1504-1572), a German Protestant theologian and reformer who played a significant role in the establishment of the Lutheran church in the Electorate of Saxony.
In the 18th century, Johann Christoph Letke (1728-1795) was a German jurist and legal scholar who served as a judge in the court of the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach. His grandson, Karl Friedrich Letke (1804-1871), was a notable historian and archivist who worked in the Prussian State Archives.
More recently, Heinz Letke (1909-1991) was a German architect and urban planner who was involved in the reconstruction of several German cities after World War II. He is particularly known for his work on the redevelopment of the city center of Hanover in the 1950s and 1960s.
While the surname Letke is not among the most widespread or well-known in Germany, its long history and scattered appearances across various regions of the country attest to its enduring, if modest, presence in the German cultural landscape over the centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Letke
Among Census respondents with the surname Letke, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Letke bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Letke surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White99.1% · 116
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Letke
Letke appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#159,712
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 101
-21 bearers (-17.2%)
Per 100,000 0.03
Rank movement Down 30,915 places
2020
#144,270
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
+16 bearers (+15.8%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Up 15,442 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #128,797 | 122 | 0.05 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #159,712 | 101 | 0.03 | -21 bearers (-17.2%) | Down 30,915 places |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | +16 bearers (+15.8%) | Up 15,442 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Letke surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #159,712 | #144,270 | 9.7% |
| Count | 101 | 117 | 15.8% |
| Per 100K | 0.03 | 0.04 | 30.5% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Letke bearers went from 101 to 117 (+15.8% change). The surname moved up 15,442 positions in the national ranking, going from #159,712 to #144,270.
FAQ
Letke surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Letke?
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Letke. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
How common is Letke?
Letke ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 117 people with the surname Letke. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Letke.
Has Letke become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Letke went from 101 recorded bearers to 117. That is an increase of 16 (+15.8%). In the national ranking it rose from #159,712 to #144,270.
What does the Census say about the background of Letke?
Among Census respondents with the surname Letke, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Letke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 99.1% (116 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Letke appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (99.1%), Hispanic (0.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Letke (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Letke mean?
Of Scandinavian origin, meaning someone who lived near a small piece of land. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Letke (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How common is the surname Letke?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the surname Letke on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.