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

Zuke, 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 Zuke surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zuke in America

Zuke is the 69579th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zuke surname appeared 282 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 Zuke.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zuke 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 Zuke

The surname Zuke has its origins in Eastern Europe, with a strong historical presence in the regions that are today Lithuania and Poland. The earliest references to the name date back to the late medieval period, around the 14th and 15th centuries, during a time of significant socio-political changes and migrations within these areas. The name likely derives from an old Lithuanian or Polish root word, possibly having connections to diminutives or local dialects of the time. In Lithuanian, the name Zukas and its variations suggest a diminutive form of more complex names or may relate to a local word for certain professions or characteristics.

Manuscript records from the 15th century mention a Jan Zuke, documented in regional tax records of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His appearance in these records indicates that individuals with this surname held relatively humble positions, often related to agriculture or local commerce. Another notable recording is from the 16th century, where a Mikolaj Zuke is listed in a land dispute document from the Kingdom of Poland, outlining the family's small but significant landholdings and their interactions with larger feudal entities.

The surname Zuke also appears in the Vokietijos, the Lithuanian chronicles, where it highlights a military figure named Tomas Zuke who fought under the banner of the Lithuanian noble family Radziwiłł during the early conflicts of the Northern Wars in the mid-17th century.

In the late 17th century, during the period of political turmoil and the partitions of Poland, the name Zuke occasionally appears in migration records as families moved westward into what is now Germany and eastward into Russia. A notable figure from this movement is Georgij Zuke, who settled in the Russian Empire and was recorded in a census from 1765 as a merchant in St. Petersburg, indicating the expanded reach and integration of the name in various socio-economic groups.

Among the famous individuals bearing the name, one finds the intellectual Petras Zuke, born in 1830 in Vilnius, who was a noted figure in the Lithuanian national revival movement, contributing to cultural and linguistic studies. Another is the 19th-century political activist Anna Zuke, born in 1845, who played a vital role in the fight for women's rights within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's territories.

In sum, the surname Zuke, with its deep Eastern European roots, reflects a rich history of migration, occupation, and cultural involvement. Prominent figures throughout history, such as Jan Zuke, Mikolaj Zuke, Tomas Zuke, Georgij Zuke, Petras Zuke, and Anna Zuke, illustrate the diverse contributions and the widespread geographical reach of this enduring surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zuke

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

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

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

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