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

Norek, 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 Norek surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Norek in America

Norek is the 109258th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Norek surname appeared 162 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 Norek.

We can also compare 2010 data for Norek 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 Norek

The surname Norek has its origins in Poland, with records dating back to the early 15th century. It is believed to have derived from the Old Polish word "norek," which referred to a mink, suggesting that the name may have initially been an occupational surname for someone who trapped or worked with mink furs.

One of the earliest known references to the surname can be found in the Akta Grodzkie i Ziemskie, a collection of medieval court records from the Polish regions of Halicz and Lwów, where the name appeared as "Norek" in the year 1420.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Norek was particularly prevalent in the regions of Silesia and Greater Poland. Notable individuals bearing this name include Jan Norek (1540-1612), a prominent merchant and landowner from the town of Kępno, and Katarzyna Norek (1595-1668), a nun and writer who authored several religious texts.

As Polish immigrants began to settle in other parts of Europe and the Americas in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Norek surname spread to new regions. One notable individual was Franciszek Norek (1877-1950), a Polish-American labor activist who played a key role in organizing workers in the mining industry in Pennsylvania.

Other historical figures with the surname Norek include Władysław Norek (1892-1976), a Polish military officer who served in World War I and later became a respected historian, and Józef Norek (1915-1989), a Polish writer and poet whose works explored themes of resistance and national identity during the turbulent 20th century.

While the surname Norek is still most commonly found in Poland, it has also established a presence in other countries with significant Polish diasporas, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Norek

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

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

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

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