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

Moak, 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 Moak surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Moak in America

Moak is the 12772nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Moak surname appeared 2,416 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 Moak.

We can also compare 2010 data for Moak 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 Moak

The surname MOAK has its origins in the Low Countries, specifically in the Netherlands and Belgium regions during the medieval period. It is believed to be derived from the Dutch word "mooke," which means "muddy soil" or "marshy land." This suggests that the earliest bearers of this name may have resided in or near marshy areas or wetlands.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the MOAK surname can be found in the Gelderse Leenaktenboeken, a collection of Dutch feudal records from the 14th century. In these records, a person named Hendrik van der Mooke is mentioned, indicating that the name may have originated as a locative surname, referring to someone from a place called "Mooke."

Another early reference to the MOAK name appears in the Oorkondenboek van Holland en Zeeland, a collection of charters and documents from the Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland. In this collection, a certain Jan Moak is recorded as a resident of Delft in the year 1436.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the MOAK surname began to spread beyond the Low Countries as Dutch and Flemish settlers migrated to other parts of Europe and the Americas. One notable bearer of this name was Pieter Moak, a Dutch explorer and navigator who accompanied the expedition of Willem Barentsz to the Arctic regions in the late 16th century.

In the 17th century, a branch of the MOAK family settled in the British North American colonies, with records showing a William Moak among the early settlers of New Netherland (present-day New York) in the 1630s. Another early American bearer of this name was John Moak, who was born in Virginia in 1692.

As the centuries progressed, the MOAK surname continued to spread across various regions, with notable individuals bearing this name including Johann Moak, a German composer and organist born in 1737, and Johanna Moak, a Dutch painter who lived in the late 18th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Moak

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

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

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

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