Explore the Family Name Harke

The meaning of Harke

1. North German and North Frisian: from a Frisian personal name, a short form of any of the ancient Germanic personal names with hari, heri ‘army’ as the first element (see for example Herman, Herwig). 2. North German: possibly a nickname or a metonymic occupational name from Middle Low German harke ‘rake’, or a topographic name from herk, hark ‘marsh, bog’. Some characteristic forenames: German Gitta, Guenter, Heinz.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Harke has seen a decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Harke was ranked 40,203 in popularity with a count of 513 occurrences per 100k people. By 2010, its rank had dropped to 55,255 and the count reduced to 372, indicating a significant change of -37.44 in rank and -27.49 in count. The proportion of people bearing this surname also experienced a decline from 0.19 per 100k people in 2000 to 0.13 in 2010, which is a decrease of -31.58.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#40,203	#55,255	-37.44%
Count	513	372	-27.49%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.13	-31.58%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Harke

As per the Decennial U.S. Census, the ethnic identity associated with the surname Harke predominantly remains White, accounting for 97.08% in 2000 and slightly decreasing to 97.04% by 2010. However, there were individuals who identified as two or more races in 2000, comprising 0.97% of those having the Harke surname, but by 2010, this figure had fallen to zero. There were no recorded instances of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in both 2000 and 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.08%	97.04%	-0.04%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.97%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%