2000
#14,077
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,963
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.73
Rare Last name
Raskin
A Jewish occupational surname referring to a ritual slaughterer or butcher, derived from the Hebrew word "rizikn" meaning "to cut."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,176 Americans carry the last name Raskin. That puts it at #14,954 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.63 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 157,516 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Raskin surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
2.2K
1 in 157,516
Census rank
#14,954
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.6
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
1.9K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,898 bearers of the surname Raskin in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.63 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 14954th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Raskin, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Raskin
The surname Raskin has its origins in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Ukraine. It is derived from the Russian word "raskol," which means "schism" or "split." This likely refers to the Raskol, a major religious schism in the Russian Orthodox Church that occurred in the 17th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Raskin can be found in the Russian census records of the late 18th century. It was primarily concentrated in the regions around Moscow and St. Petersburg, where many followers of the Old Believers, a religious group that emerged from the Raskol, had settled.
In the 19th century, the name Raskin began to appear in various historical documents and records across Eastern Europe. For example, in 1842, a Jewish merchant named Yakov Raskin was mentioned in a trade register in the city of Odessa, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
As the Russian Empire expanded and people migrated, the name Raskin spread to other parts of Eastern Europe and beyond. One notable figure was Abram Raskin, a Ukrainian-born American author and journalist who lived from 1887 to 1944. He wrote several books on Jewish history and culture, including "The Jew in Russia" and "Landsmen: A Journey of Homecoming."
Another prominent individual with the surname Raskin was Marcus Raskin, an American lawyer, political activist, and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. He was born in 1934 and played a significant role in the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
In the realm of academia, Jill Raskin, an American computer scientist and human-computer interaction researcher, made significant contributions to the field of user interface design. She was born in 1953 and is known for her work on the Zooming User Interface, which aimed to improve the usability of computer systems.
It is worth noting that the surname Raskin has undergone various spelling variations over time, such as Raskin, Raskin, and Raskind. These variations may reflect regional dialects, transliterations, or adaptations to different languages and cultures as the name spread across geographical boundaries.
While the surname Raskin has its roots in Eastern Europe, it has since become a part of the global diaspora, with individuals bearing this name contributing to various fields and leaving their mark on history across different countries and cultures.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raskin
Among Census respondents with the surname Raskin, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Raskin bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Raskin surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.8% · 1,761
- Two or more races2.8% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 26
- Black or African American1.1% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Raskin
Raskin appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#13,660
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,216
+253 bearers (+12.9%)
Per 100,000 0.75
Rank movement Up 417 places
2020
#14,954
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,898
-318 bearers (-14.4%)
Per 100,000 0.63
Rank movement Down 1,294 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #14,077 | 1,963 | 0.73 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #13,660 | 2,216 | 0.75 | +253 bearers (+12.9%) | Up 417 places |
| 2020 | #14,954 | 1,898 | 0.63 | -318 bearers (-14.4%) | Down 1,294 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Raskin surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #13,660 | #14,954 | -9.5% |
| Count | 2,216 | 1,898 | -14.4% |
| Per 100K | 0.75 | 0.63 | -15.3% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Raskin bearers went from 2,216 to 1,898 (-14.4% change). The surname moved down 1,294 positions in the national ranking, going from #13,660 to #14,954.
FAQ
Raskin surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Raskin?
Name Census estimates that about 2,176 living Americans carry the surname Raskin. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 157,516 residents.
How common is Raskin?
Raskin ranks #14,954 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.63 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,898 people with the surname Raskin. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,176), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.63 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.63 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Raskin.
Has Raskin become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Raskin went from 2,216 recorded bearers to 1,898. That is a decrease of 318 (-14.4%). In the national ranking it fell from #13,660 to #14,954.
What does the Census say about the background of Raskin?
Among Census respondents with the surname Raskin, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Raskin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.8% (1,761 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Raskin appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.8%), Two or More Races (2.8%), Hispanic (1.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Raskin (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Raskin mean?
A Jewish occupational surname referring to a ritual slaughterer or butcher, derived from the Hebrew word "rizikn" meaning "to cut." The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Raskin (0.63 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people share the surname Raskin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.