Explore the Family Name Bosnjak

The meaning of Bosnjak

Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Bosniak (Bošnjak): from Bošnjak, an ethnic name for someone from Bosnia. In the past this term particularly denoted a Croat from Bosnia or a Christian refugee from the Turkish occupation of this country in the 15th and 16th centuries. Compare Bosnyak.

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

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

The Bosnjak surname saw a rise in popularity between 2000 and 2010, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it ranked 75,219 in terms of commonality, but by 2010, it had moved up to 68,547, representing an increase of 8.87%. The overall count of individuals with this surname also increased over the decade from 239 to 287, marking a substantial growth of 20.08%. Consequently, the proportion of people named Bosnjak per 100,000 individuals marginally grew by 11.11% to reach 0.1.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#75,219	#68,547	8.87%
Count	239	287	20.08%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.1	11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Bosnjak

Shifting focus to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the Bosnjak surname identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, with slight growth recorded from 94.14% to 95.12%, respectively. There was a significant increase in those identifying as Hispanic, which almost doubled from 2.51% to 4.88%. Interestingly, the percentage of individuals who identified with two or more races dropped from 3.35% in 2000 to zero in 2010. No Bosnjaks identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native during these census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.14%	95.12%	1.04%
Hispanic	2.51%	4.88%	94.42%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	3.35%	0%	-100%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%