Explore the Family Name Denke

The meaning of Denke

1. German: from a short form of a personal name containing the Old High German element thank ‘thank, think, thought’. Compare Denk. 2. Hungarian: from a pet form of any of the personal names Dénes, Demeter, or Demjén. Some characteristic forenames: German Erwin, Helmuth, Elke, Erhart, Kurt.

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

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

The surname Denke, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, saw a small decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Denke had a ranking of 61,713 which slightly dropped to 65,244 by 2010, marking a decline of 5.72%. The actual count of individuals with this surname remained steady at 304 for both census years. The proportion per 100,000 people also decreased from 0.11 in 2000 to 0.1 in 2010, representing a 9.09% drop.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#61,713	#65,244	-5.72%
Count	304	304	0%
Proportion per 100k	0.11	0.1	-9.09%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Denke

In terms of ethnicity, the majority of individuals with the Denke surname identified as White, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data. However, this majority slightly declined from 94.08% in 2000 to 91.12% in 2010, reflecting a change of -3.15%. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw a slight increase from 4.93% in 2000 to 5.26% in 2010, a growth of 6.69%. Interestingly, the census data indicated a new ethnic group in 2010 that wasn't present in 2000: 2.30% of individuals with the Denke surname identified as Black. The Asian/Pacific Islander category, as well as the American Indian and Alaskan Native category, showed no representation among individuals with the Denke surname in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.08%	91.12%	-3.15%
Hispanic	4.93%	5.26%	6.69%
Black	0%	2.3%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%