Explore the Family Name Anyanwu

The meaning of Anyanwu

West African (Nigeria): Igbo name, from Anyanwu, the name of the traditional Igbo sun deity.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Anyanwu has seen a significant increase from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked at 35,187 among all surnames in the United States, but by 2010, it had climbed up to the 23,899th spot, marking an upward shift of over 32%. In terms of the count, there were 606 individuals with this surname in 2000, which increased to 1,056 in 2010 — an impressive rise of 74.26%. The proportion of people named Anyanwu per 100,000 also saw a substantial surge, increasing from 0.22 to 0.36, a growth of about 64%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#35,187	#23,899	32.08%
Count	606	1,056	74.26%
Proportion per 100k	0.22	0.36	63.64%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Anyanwu

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the name Anyanwu. As of 2010, the majority of individuals with this surname, around 97.06%, identified as Black. This shows an increase from 2000 when approximately 94.22% of individuals with this surname identified as Black. Interestingly, the percentage of those identifying as White grew by 37.35% (from 0.83% in 2000 to 1.14% in 2010). However, the number of individuals who identified as being of two or more ethnicities decreased by 65%, dropping from 3.80% in 2000 to 1.33% in 2010. The data for those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native were either unavailable or suppressed for privacy reasons.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	94.22%	97.06%	3.01%
Two or More Races	3.8%	1.33%	-65%
White	0.83%	1.14%	37.35%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0.99%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%