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

Ostrow, 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 Ostrow surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ostrow in America

Ostrow is the 21553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ostrow surname appeared 1,211 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 Ostrow.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ostrow 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 Ostrow

The surname Ostrow originated in Poland and is derived from the Polish word "ostrów," which means "island" or "promontory." It was likely first used as a toponymic surname, referring to individuals who lived on or near an island or a promontory.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Ostrow can be traced back to the 13th century in various historical documents and records from Poland. One notable mention is found in the Liber Beneficiorum, a 14th-century manuscript that recorded the names of landowners and their properties in the region of Krakow.

During the Middle Ages, the name Ostrow was often associated with members of the Polish nobility or landowners who held estates or villages with names containing the word "ostrów." For example, the village of Ostrowiec, located in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship of Poland, was once owned by a noble family bearing the surname Ostrow.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Ostrow was Jan Ostrow, a Polish nobleman who lived in the 15th century and was mentioned in the Metryka Koronna, a collection of important state documents from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Another notable figure was Krzysztof Ostrow, a Polish military commander who fought against the Swedish forces during the Swedish Deluge in the mid-17th century. He was born in 1620 and died in 1678.

In the 18th century, Stanisław Ostrow was a prominent Polish architect and urban planner who designed several notable buildings and public spaces in Warsaw, including the Palace of the Four Winds and the Royal Square.

During the 19th century, Józef Ostrow was a Polish writer and poet who was active in the Polish Romantic literary movement. He was born in 1805 and died in 1876.

Another noteworthy individual with the surname Ostrow was Franciszek Ostrow, a Polish politician and statesman who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Duchy of Warsaw in the early 19th century. He was born in 1770 and died in 1842.

While the surname Ostrow is most commonly found in Poland, it has also been adopted by individuals of Polish descent living in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States and Canada, where Polish immigrants settled in significant numbers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ostrow

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

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

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

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