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

Muriuki, 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 Muriuki surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Muriuki in America

Muriuki is the 126765th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Muriuki surname appeared 135 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 Muriuki.

The history of the last name Muriuki

The surname MURIUKI originated from Kenya, East Africa. It is a Kikuyu name that can be traced back to the late 18th century. The name is derived from the Kikuyu word "Muriuki" which means "one who was born at night" or "one who was born during the night hours."

The name is believed to have been first used in the Kiambu region of central Kenya, where the Kikuyu people have their ancestral roots. The earliest known record of the name MURIUKI appears in a historical document from the late 1700s, which mentions a family with this surname living in the area.

During the 19th century, the name MURIUKI became more widespread among the Kikuyu people, particularly in the areas around Mount Kenya. Some notable individuals with this surname from this period include Muriuki wa Kihara (c. 1820-1890), a respected elder and spiritual leader, and Muriuki wa Gathirimu (c. 1840-1910), a renowned warrior and community leader.

As the Kikuyu people migrated to other parts of Kenya in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name MURIUKI spread to various regions of the country. One famous bearer of this surname was Jomo Kenyatta (1891-1978), the first Prime Minister and President of independent Kenya, whose birth name was Kamau Muriuki.

Other notable individuals with the surname MURIUKI include Mbiyu Koinange Muriuki (1907-1981), a prominent Kenyan politician and Cabinet Minister, and John Muriuki Michuki (1932-2012), a long-serving Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister in Kenya.

The name MURIUKI has also been carried by several respected academics and intellectuals, such as Prof. Joseph Muriuki Kivuti (1926-2006), a renowned Kenyan scholar and linguist, and Dr. Muriuki Kariuki (1943-2010), a prominent Kenyan scientist and environmentalist.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Muriuki

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

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 Muriuki 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.

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!