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

Ocken, 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 Ocken surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ocken in America

Ocken is the 79598th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ocken surname appeared 239 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 Ocken.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ocken 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 Ocken

The surname OCKEN is believed to have originated in the region of Schleswig-Holstein, located in the northern part of present-day Germany and the southern part of Denmark. This name first appeared in records dating back to the 12th century.

The name OCKEN is thought to be derived from the Old Saxon word "oka," which means "oak tree." It is likely that the name was initially given as a descriptive surname to individuals who lived near a prominent oak tree or in an area known for its abundance of oak trees.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name OCKEN can be found in the Liber Census Daniae, a census record from Denmark dating back to the year 1231. This document mentions a landowner named Thideric Ocken, who held property near the town of Ribe in southwestern Denmark.

In the 14th century, the name OCKEN appeared in various records from the Hanseatic League, a powerful commercial and defensive alliance of merchant guilds and market towns in Northern Europe. Johannes Ocken, a merchant from Lübeck, is mentioned in a trade agreement dated 1372.

During the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the surname OCKEN was Sivert Ocken, born in 1501 in the town of Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein. He was a Lutheran reformer and served as a minister in the city of Husum.

Another prominent individual with the name OCKEN was Claus Ocken, born in 1588 in the village of Büsum, Schleswig-Holstein. He was a ship's captain and is credited with establishing one of the first successful whaling operations in the region.

In the 17th century, Hinrich Ocken, born in 1643 in the town of Glückstadt, Schleswig-Holstein, gained recognition as a skilled clockmaker and inventor of several timepiece mechanisms.

The surname OCKEN can also be found in various place names throughout the region, such as Ockenhausen, a village in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, and Ockenfels, a town in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ocken

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

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

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

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