Explore the Family Name Harnack

The meaning of Harnack

German: nickname from Middle High German hardenack ‘hard-nose’, a tough, inflexible person. Some characteristic forenames: German Gerhard, Klaus, Kurt.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Harnack has seen a slight fluctuation in popularity over the years. In 2000, it ranked 36,531 in terms of prevalence and had a count of 578 individuals bearing the name. Over the next decade, there was a marginal drop in its rank to 37,125, but an increase in the number of people named Harnack to 601. This represents a decrease in rank by 1.63% but an increase in count by 3.98%. The proportion per 100k also saw a minor decrease from 0.21 to 0.2, marking a -4.76% change.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#36,531	#37,125	-1.63%
Count	578	601	3.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.2	-4.76%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Harnack

In terms of ethnic identity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census indicates some shifts among those with the surname Harnack between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the vast majority identified as white (96.19%), a figure that decreased slightly to 94.84% in 2010. There were also small percentages identifying as Asian or Pacific Islander (1.21%) and Black (0.87%) in 2000, though these figures fell to zero by 2010. The Hispanic community saw a significant rise in the number of Harnacks, from 1.04% in 2000 to 3.33% in 2010, representing an astounding 220.19% increase. Interestingly, there was a new appearance of individuals identifying as two or more races in 2010, accounting for 0.83% of Harnacks.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.19%	94.84%	-1.4%
Hispanic	1.04%	3.33%	220.19%
Two or More Races	0%	0.83%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.21%	0%	0%
Black	0.87%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%