Explore the Family Name Kalu

The meaning of Kalu

West African (Nigeria): Igbo name, from a shortened form of Kamalu, the name of the traditional Igbo god of thunder and lightning, which is also called Kamanu (see Kanu).

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Kalu observed a considerable rise in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 50,686, while in 2010, it climbed to the rank of 33,941, marking a significant increase of 33.04%. The count of individuals with this surname also escalated from 387 in 2000 to 670 in 2010, a considerable growth of 73.13%. Proportionally, for every 100,000 people, the number bearing the surname Kalu rose from 0.14 in 2000 to 0.23 in 2010, an increase of 64.29%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#50,686	#33,941	33.04%
Count	387	670	73.13%
Proportion per 100k	0.14	0.23	64.29%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kalu

On the topic of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data demonstrates various shifts from 2000 to 2010 among those with the surname Kalu. The percentage of those identified as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased by 44.34%, from 7.24% in 2000 to 4.03% in 2010. Similarly, those identifying with two or more races fell by 49.76%, from 2.07% to 1.04%. The proportion of White individuals also dropped from 3.62% in 2000 to 2.24% in 2010, marking a decrease of 38.12%. However, the Black community saw an increase of 8%, from 85.27% in 2000 to 92.09% in 2010. No changes were recorded for the Hispanic and American Indian and Alaskan Native communities over the ten-year period.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	85.27%	92.09%	8%
Asian/Pacific Islander	7.24%	4.03%	-44.34%
White	3.62%	2.24%	-38.12%
Two or More Races	2.07%	1.04%	-49.76%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%