Explore the Family Name Kahsay

The meaning of Kahsay

Ethiopian and Eritrean: from the personal name Kahsay, which is interpreted as ‘my recompense’ in the Tigrinya language. — Note: Since Ethiopians and Eritreans do not have hereditary surnames, this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Kahsay has seen a significant increase in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname jumped from 127,186th place to 62,045th place, marking an impressive change of 51.22%. The number of individuals with this surname also rose dramatically from 124 in 2000 to 323 in 2010, a sizable surge of 160.48%. Furthermore, the proportion of individuals named Kahsay per 100k people doubled from 0.05% to 0.11%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#127,186	#62,045	51.22%
Count	124	323	160.48%
Proportion per 100k	0.05	0.11	120%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kahsay

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the majority of individuals with the surname Kahsay identify as Black, with the percentage increasing from 85.48% in 2000 to 96.28% in 2010. While there were individuals who identified with two or more races in 2000, constituting 11.29%, such cases were not reported in 2010. Notably, there was a slight emergence of White individuals carrying the surname Kahsay in 2010, making up 1.86% of the total, whereas no such representation was found in 2000. Other ethnic identities, including Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native, showed no changes during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	85.48%	96.28%	12.63%
White	0%	1.86%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	11.29%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%