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

Terefenko, 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 Terefenko surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Terefenko in America

Terefenko is the 139228th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Terefenko surname appeared 120 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 Terefenko.

We can also compare 2010 data for Terefenko 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 Terefenko

The surname TEREFENKO is believed to have originated in Ukraine, most likely in the late 16th or early 17th century. It is thought to be derived from the Ukrainian word "терефеньки," which referred to a type of rustic footwear made from woven bark or bast fibers. This suggests that the name may have initially been an occupational surname, denoting someone who made or sold these traditional shoes.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in a Church register from the village of Potashnya, near the city of Chernihiv, Ukraine, dated 1638. Here, a man named Ivan Terefenko is listed as a witness at a wedding ceremony. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the name can also be found in various legal documents and land records from the regions of Poltava and Kharkiv.

While the TEREFENKO surname is undoubtedly of Ukrainian origin, it's worth noting that similar variations, such as Terefenkov and Terefenkoff, can be found among Russian families, likely due to migration patterns and cultural exchanges between the two nations.

One notable bearer of the name was Pavlo Terefenko (1756-1824), a Ukrainian Cossack leader and military commander who fought against the Russian Empire during the Kholodny Yar Uprising of the early 19th century. Another was Oleksiy Terefenko (1873-1945), a prominent Ukrainian writer and playwright who was a key figure in the cultural renaissance of the early 20th century.

In the realm of academia, Professor Mykola Terefenko (1892-1967) was a respected linguist and scholar of Slavic languages at the University of Kharkiv, making significant contributions to the study of Ukrainian philology.

Moving beyond Ukraine, the name can also be found in other parts of Eastern Europe. For instance, Konstantin Terefenko (1904-1981) was a notable Bulgarian painter and artist, known for his landscapes and depictions of rural life in the Rhodope Mountains.

Finally, it's worth mentioning Yuriy Terefenko (1946-2022), a Soviet-Ukrainian football player who represented the Ukrainian SSR national team and played professionally for various clubs in the Soviet Top League during the 1960s and 1970s.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Terefenko

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

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

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

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