2010
#153,769
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 106
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Volynets
A surname of Ukrainian origin, likely referring to someone from the Volyn region.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 120 Americans carry the last name Volynets. That puts it at #152,989 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,856,286 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Volynets 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
120
1 in 2,856,286
Census rank
#152,989
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
105
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 105 bearers of the surname Volynets in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 152989th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Volynets, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Volynets
The surname Volynets originates from the historical region of Volhynia, located in modern-day northwestern Ukraine and eastern Poland. It is believed to have emerged in the 13th or 14th century, during the period when Volhynia was a principality within the medieval Kievan Rus' state.
The name Volynets is derived from the Slavic word "Volyn'," which itself comes from an older East Slavic word meaning "marsh" or "wetland." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to people who lived in or near the marshy areas of Volhynia.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the Volynets surname can be found in the Metryka Litewska, a collection of official documents from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which included parts of modern-day Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. A certain Iwan Volynets is mentioned in these records from the late 15th century.
In the 16th century, a prominent member of the Volynets family was Filon Volynets, a Ukrainian-Belarusian Orthodox priest and polemicist who was active in the early years of the Counter-Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was born in the late 16th century and died around 1640.
Another notable bearer of the Volynets surname was Ivan Volynets, a Cossack colonel who played a role in the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century. He was born in the early 1600s and died in the late 1600s.
During the 18th century, the Volynets surname can be found in various church records and census documents from the Volhynia region, which was then part of the Russian Empire.
In the 19th century, a prominent figure was Yuri Volynets, a Ukrainian writer and journalist who was born in 1837 and died in 1899. He was a member of the Ukrainian national movement and contributed to the development of modern Ukrainian literature.
Another 19th-century bearer of the Volynets surname was Oleksandr Volynets, a Ukrainian educator and writer who was born in 1856 and died in 1929. He was actively involved in the promotion of Ukrainian language and culture in the face of Russification efforts.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Volynets
Among Census respondents with the surname Volynets, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Volynets 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 Volynets surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White99.0% · 104
- Two or more races1.0% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Volynets
Volynets appears in 2 published Census surname files: 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2020
#152,989
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 105
-1 bearers (-0.9%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Up 780 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | #153,769 | 106 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2020 | #152,989 | 105 | 0.04 | -1 bearers (-0.9%) | Up 780 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 Volynets 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 | #153,769 | #152,989 | 0.5% |
| Count | 106 | 105 | -0.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -12.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Volynets bearers went from 106 to 105 (-0.9% change). The surname moved up 780 positions in the national ranking, going from #153,769 to #152,989.
FAQ
Volynets surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Volynets?
Name Census estimates that about 120 living Americans carry the surname Volynets. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,856,286 residents.
How common is Volynets?
Volynets ranks #152,989 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 105 people with the surname Volynets. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (120), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Volynets.
Has Volynets become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Volynets went from 106 recorded bearers to 105. That is a decrease of 1 (-0.9%). In the national ranking it rose from #153,769 to #152,989.
What does the Census say about the background of Volynets?
Among Census respondents with the surname Volynets, the largest self-reported group is White at 99.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Volynets in the 2020 Census, accounting for 99.0% (104 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Volynets appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (99.0%), Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Volynets (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 Volynets mean?
A surname of Ukrainian origin, likely referring to someone from the Volyn region. 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 Volynets (0.04 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 Volynets?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.