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

Turks, 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 Turks surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Turks in America

Turks is the 65244th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Turks surname appeared 304 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 Turks.

We can also compare 2010 data for Turks 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 Turks

The surname Turks is of English origin, deriving from the old English word "Turca" which referred to people of Turkish descent or those who came from Turkey. The name likely emerged in the 11th century during the Norman Conquest of England when many Turks accompanied the Norman invaders.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Turks can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documents a landowner named Robertus Turca in the county of Norfolk. This suggests that the name was already well-established in England by the late 11th century.

In the 13th century, the surname Turks appeared in various medieval records, often associated with places like Turkesbury in Gloucestershire and Turkedin in Lancashire. These place names likely derived from the Old English words "Turceding" and "Turcadene," meaning "valley of the Turks."

One notable bearer of the surname Turks was Sir Thomas Turks (1369-1422), a English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was appointed High Sheriff of Somerset in 1410. Another early example is John Turks (1490-1547), a wealthy merchant and landowner from Somersetshire.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Turks continued to be found across England, with variations in spelling such as Turke, Turck, and Turcke. In 1586, a Richard Turkes was recorded as a resident of the parish of St. Giles in London.

Other notable individuals with the surname Turks include:

• William Turks (1609-1671), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.
• Edward Turks (1757-1835), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars and was awarded the Naval Gold Medal for his actions at the Battle of Trafalgar.
• Mary Turks (1819-1892), an English author and poet whose works included "Poems of Rural Life" and "Sketches of Country Life and Landscapes."
• Sir John Turks (1865-1944), a British civil engineer who oversaw the construction of several major bridges, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Turks

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

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

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

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