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

Welker, 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 Welker surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Welker in America

Welker is the 4138th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Welker surname appeared 8,566 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Welker.

We can also compare 2010 data for Welker 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 Welker

The surname Welker originated in Germany, with the earliest records dating back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old German word "walken," meaning "to walk" or "to tread." This suggests that the name may have been initially given as an occupational name for a fuller, who trod on cloth to thicken and clean it.

The name was particularly prevalent in the regions of Bavaria and Saxony, where it appeared in various spellings such as Walker, Walcker, and Walker. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Codex Traditionum Westphalensium, a 12th-century manuscript from Westphalia, which mentions a person named Wolkerus.

During the Middle Ages, the name Welker appeared in several historical records, including the Stadtbuch of Nürnberg from the 14th century, which lists individuals with the surname Welker residing in the city. In the 15th century, a man named Hans Welker was mentioned in the records of the city of Augsburg as a member of the local guild of shoemakers.

One notable individual with the surname Welker was Johann Welker, a German Renaissance humanist and scholar who lived from 1486 to 1554. He was a professor of Greek and Latin at the University of Tübingen and contributed significantly to the study of classical literature.

Another famous bearer of the name was Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker, a German classical scholar and archaeologist who lived from 1784 to 1868. He made important contributions to the study of ancient Greek art and literature and is considered a pioneer in the field of classical archaeology.

In the 19th century, Carl Theodor Welcker (1790-1869) was a prominent German jurist and politician who served as the Minister of Justice and Vice President of the Prussian Council of State. He played a significant role in the legal reforms of Prussia during that period.

The name Welker also has a historical presence in other parts of Europe, such as the Netherlands, where it appeared as Welker or Welkers. In the 17th century, a Dutch scholar named Pieter Welker (1618-1688) gained recognition for his work in theology and philology.

Throughout the centuries, the surname Welker has been associated with individuals from various professions, including scholars, politicians, and artisans, reflecting the diverse origins and meanings of this German surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Welker

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

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

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

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