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

Shaikh, 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 Shaikh surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shaikh in America

Shaikh is the 5722nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shaikh surname appeared 6,063 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Shaikh.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shaikh 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 Shaikh

The surname "SHAIKH" is of Arabic origin and is believed to have originated from the Middle East region during the early Islamic period. It is derived from the Arabic word "shaikh," which translates to "elder" or "chief" and was originally a title given to leaders, scholars, and respected individuals within the Islamic community.

In its earliest form, the surname was likely used to denote the descendants or followers of a particular shaikh or tribal leader. As Islamic civilization spread across various regions, the surname gained popularity and became associated with different ethnic and cultural groups.

One of the earliest recorded references to the surname "SHAIKH" can be found in various medieval Islamic manuscripts and chronicles, particularly those documenting the lives of prominent Islamic scholars and leaders.

Notable individuals with the surname "SHAIKH" throughout history include:

1. Sayyid Ahmed Shaikh (1786-1831), a prominent Muslim scholar and revolutionary leader from British India who led an uprising against the East India Company.
2. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), an Indian scholar, poet, and politician who served as the first Education Minister of independent India.
3. Abu-Ali Hasan ibn al-Haytham, or Alhazen (965-1040), an Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physicist regarded as the father of modern optics.
4. Abu Bakr al-Shashi (935-1010), an influential Islamic scholar and jurist from Nasaf, modern-day Uzbekistan.
5. Fatima al-Fihri (born around 800 CE), a Muslim woman who founded the first degree-awarding educational institution in the world, the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.

The surname "SHAIKH" has also been associated with various place names and older spellings. For example, the town of Shaikh Khalifa in Bahrain is named after a prominent religious figure, and the area of Shaikh Othman in Aden, Yemen, takes its name from a local shaikh.

While the surname "SHAIKH" has its roots in the Arab world, it has since spread to various regions and is now found among diverse ethnic and cultural groups, particularly in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa, where it has been adopted and assimilated into local cultures and traditions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shaikh

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

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

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

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