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

Yeskey, 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 Yeskey surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Yeskey in America

Yeskey is the 132206th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Yeskey surname appeared 128 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 Yeskey.

We can also compare 2010 data for Yeskey 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 Yeskey

The surname Yeskey is relatively rare and its precise origins and meaning are somewhat obscure. The name likely has Eastern European roots, potentially originating in regions such as Poland, Slovakia, or Hungary. The name could be derived from various phonetic spellings of Eastern European surnames that were Anglicized upon immigration to English-speaking countries.

The earliest references to similar surnames appear in medieval records from the 15th and 16th centuries. In those regions, names often evolved from personal characteristics, occupations, or geographical locations. Linguistic shifts and adaptations when families migrated or records were translated can result in variations like Yeskey.

One of the earliest recorded examples of a similar name can be found in mid-16th-century church records in what is now Poland, with variations including Jeski and Jeske. These variations suggest a Slavic linguistic origin, with potential ties to personal names or diminutives formed with the suffix keyski or jeski, referring to Jesko, a diminutive form of a given name.

A notable historical figure with a variant of this surname is Johann Jeske, a German-born theologian and scholar, whose works in Lutheran theology were significant in the late 17th century. Born in 1633 and dying in 1695, Jeske contributed to religious discourse in Germany and neighboring countries.

In the early 19th century, records show a Peter Yeskey, an immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania, United States. He is one of the earliest individuals with this exact spelling to appear in American records, likely arriving around the 1820s or 1830s amidst waves of European immigration. His descendants helped to establish a small but persistent lineage within the U.S.

Another notable historical figure is Maria Yeskey, a mid-19th-century artist known for her landscape paintings that depicted the scenery of the American Midwest. Born in 1842, she lived until 1910 and left a legacy in regional art history.

In the late 19th century, a political figure named Emil Yeskey held local office in Hungary prior to significant migrations around 1890. He served as a regional representative and his name appears in several documents related to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Lastly, Samuel Yeskey, a 20th-century industrialist born in 1878, contributed significantly to early automotive manufacturing in Detroit, Michigan. His innovations in assembly line processes were crucial to the burgeoning car industry.

The surname Yeskey, though rare, encapsulates a history of migration, adaptation, and integration within various global contexts, reflecting the mutable nature of naming traditions and the personal histories they carry.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Yeskey

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

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

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

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