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

Palka, 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 Palka surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Palka in America

Palka is the 21842nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Palka surname appeared 1,190 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 Palka.

We can also compare 2010 data for Palka 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 Palka

The surname Palka is of Polish origin, originating in the late medieval period around the 15th or 16th century. It is believed to have derived from the Polish word "palka," which means "stick" or "rod," potentially referring to an occupation or a physical characteristic of an early bearer.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Palka surname can be found in the Polish town of Kraków, where in the 16th century, a merchant named Jan Palka was mentioned in local records. Another early reference is from the nearby town of Tarnów, where a landowner named Maciej Palka was documented in the late 1500s.

In the 17th century, the Palka name gained some prominence in the region of Galicia, which was then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A notable figure was Andrzej Palka (1623-1698), a Catholic priest and theologian who served as a canon in the city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine).

As the Palka family spread throughout Poland in the following centuries, several individuals made their mark in various fields. One example is Franciszek Palka (1737-1809), a painter and sculptor from the town of Bochnia, whose works can still be found in churches across southern Poland.

Another notable bearer of the Palka surname was Józef Palka (1855-1922), a Polish politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Galician Diet and the Austrian Parliament in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In more recent times, the Palka name has been carried by several accomplished individuals, such as Stanisław Palka (1908-1984), a Polish philosopher and professor at the University of Warsaw, and Jerzy Palka (born 1946), a prominent Polish actor known for his roles in theater and film.

While the Palka surname is most commonly found in Poland, it has also spread to other parts of the world through immigration, particularly to countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia, where Polish communities have established themselves over the past few centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Palka

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Palka, 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!