Explore the Family Name Alemu

The meaning of Alemu

Ethiopian: from the personal name Alemu, which is interpreted as ‘his world’ in the Amharic language. — Note: Since Ethiopians do not have hereditary surnames, this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Alemu in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Alemu has seen a significant increase between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Alemu ranked 48,877 in popularity, but by 2010 it had risen to a rank of 23,185, reflecting a 52.56% change. The number of people with the Alemu surname also increased from 405 in 2000 to 1,100 in 2010, a dramatic growth of 171.6%. Furthermore, the proportion of this surname per 100,000 people almost tripled, going from 0.15 in 2000 to 0.37 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#48,877	#23,185	52.56%
Count	405	1,100	171.6%
Proportion per 100k	0.15	0.37	146.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Alemu

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Alemu. The majority of individuals with this surname identify as Black, with the percentage growing from 88.89% in 2000 to 94.45% in 2010. Notably, there was a small emergence of White and Hispanic identifying individuals with this surname in 2010, with 1.73% and 1.09% respectively, where there were none recorded in 2000. Meanwhile, those identifying as two or more races dropped significantly from 9.14% to 2.18%. There were no recorded individuals with this surname who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	88.89%	94.45%	6.25%
Two or More Races	9.14%	2.18%	-76.15%
White	0%	1.73%	0%
Hispanic	0%	1.09%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%