Explore the Family Name Gokey

The meaning of Gokey

Americanized form of French Gauthier. Alteration of the French ending -thier to English -key is typical for American French surnames.

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

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

According to the data derived from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Gokey has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Gokey was ranked as the 16,128th most popular surname in the United States, but by 2010 it dropped slightly to 16,570th. Despite this drop in rank, the total count of individuals with the Gokey surname actually increased by approximately 5% during this period, growing from 1,649 in 2000 to 1,732 in 2010. However, when measured as a proportion per 100,000 people, the prevalence of the surname declined by about 3%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,128	#16,570	-2.74%
Count	1,649	1,732	5.03%
Proportion per 100k	0.61	0.59	-3.28%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gokey

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Gokey. As of 2010, a significant majority of those bearing the Gokey surname identify as White, although this percentage decreased marginally from 92% in 2000 to just under 91% in 2010. The second most common ethnicity among Gokeys is American Indian and Alaskan Native, which saw a small increase in representation over the decade. Meanwhile, the Hispanic representation within the Gokey community experienced the largest percentage change, increasing by over 53%. There were no reported Gokeys identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or Black during either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92%	90.94%	-1.15%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	4.61%	5.08%	10.2%
Hispanic	1.09%	1.67%	53.21%
Two or More Races	1.88%	1.56%	-17.02%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%