2000
#7,846
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 3,913
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.45
Rare Last name
Zack
A shortened form of Zacharias, a biblical name meaning "the Lord has remembered" in Hebrew.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,870 Americans carry the last name Zack. That puts it at #9,259 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.13 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 88,567 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Zack 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
3.9K
1 in 88,567
Census rank
#9,259
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.1
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
3.4K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 3,375 bearers of the surname Zack in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.13 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 9259th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Zack, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.7%) and Two or More Races (2.4%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Zack
The surname Zack has its origins in Germany, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Germanic personal name Zacharias, which itself comes from the Hebrew name Zechariah, meaning "the Lord has remembered."
In its earliest recorded forms, the name appeared as Zach, Zache, and Zacher in various German regions during the 13th and 14th centuries. These spellings likely evolved from the shortened form Zach, which was a common nickname for Zacharias.
One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, where a certain "Conradus dictus Zache" is mentioned in a record from 1288.
The name Zack also has a connection to several place names in Germany, such as Zackenberg and Zackenzin, which may have influenced its spread and variations in spelling.
Notable historical figures bearing the Zack surname include Johann Zack (1640-1707), a German composer and organist from Nuremberg, and Johann Friedrich Zack (1698-1753), a German botanist and physician who studied the flora of the Harz Mountains.
Another prominent individual was Karl Friedrich Zach (1770-1846), a German-Hungarian astronomer and geodesist, who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and was a pioneer in the study of minor planets.
In the 19th century, Johann Baptist Zack (1805-1870) was a German historian and archivist from Bavaria, known for his works on the history of the region and its noble families.
Lastly, Adolph Zack (1843-1918) was a German-American industrialist and businessman who founded the Zack Iron and Steel Company in Los Angeles, which played a crucial role in the city's early industrial development.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zack
Among Census respondents with the surname Zack, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.7%) and Two or More Races (2.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Zack 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 Zack surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.2% · 3,111
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 91
- Two or more races2.4% · 80
- Black or African American1.1% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 25
Timeline
Historical Census data for Zack
Zack appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#7,983
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,141
+228 bearers (+5.8%)
Per 100,000 1.40
Rank movement Down 137 places
2020
#9,259
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 3,375
-766 bearers (-18.5%)
Per 100,000 1.13
Rank movement Down 1,276 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #7,846 | 3,913 | 1.45 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #7,983 | 4,141 | 1.40 | +228 bearers (+5.8%) | Down 137 places |
| 2020 | #9,259 | 3,375 | 1.13 | -766 bearers (-18.5%) | Down 1,276 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 Zack 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 | #7,983 | #9,259 | -16.0% |
| Count | 4,141 | 3,375 | -18.5% |
| Per 100K | 1.40 | 1.13 | -19.3% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Zack bearers went from 4,141 to 3,375 (-18.5% change). The surname moved down 1,276 positions in the national ranking, going from #7,983 to #9,259.
FAQ
Zack surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Zack?
Name Census estimates that about 3,870 living Americans carry the surname Zack. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 88,567 residents.
How common is Zack?
Zack ranks #9,259 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.13 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 3,375 people with the surname Zack. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,870), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.13 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.13 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Zack.
Has Zack become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Zack went from 4,141 recorded bearers to 3,375. That is a decrease of 766 (-18.5%). In the national ranking it fell from #7,983 to #9,259.
What does the Census say about the background of Zack?
Among Census respondents with the surname Zack, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.7%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Zack in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.2% (3,111 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Zack appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.2%), Hispanic (2.7%), Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Zack (2000, 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 Zack mean?
A shortened form of Zacharias, a biblical name meaning "the Lord has remembered" in Hebrew. 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 Zack (1.13 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 have the last name Zack?
If you just want to know how many people have the last name Zack, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.