Explore the Family Name Ketch

The meaning of Ketch

English: variant of Kedge, a nickname either from Middle English kegge, kigge ‘cheerful, pleasant, agreeable, merry’, or from an unrecorded Middle English kegge ‘belly’, perhaps for a pot-bellied person. Difficult to distinguish from Keech and Cage in early forms.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname "Ketch" saw a decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the name was ranked at 38,706 but by 2010, it had dropped to 45,653, marking a decrease of 17.95 percent. Similarly, the count of individuals with this surname also fell from 537 in 2000 to 468 in 2010, a decline of 12.85 percent. The proportion of people named Ketch per 100,000 also decreased by 20 percent over this decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,706	#45,653	-17.95%
Count	537	468	-12.85%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.16	-20%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ketch

The ethnic identity associated with the surname "Ketch" also experienced changes during this period. The Decennial U.S. Census data indicates that in 2000, 92.55 percent of bearers identified as White, but this figure decreased slightly by 1.42 percent by 2010. Over the same period, there were increases in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic, from 0 percent to 2.35 percent and 1.71 percent respectively. However, the percentage of individuals identifying as Black decreased significantly by 36.12 percent, while those identifying as two or more races and American Indian and Alaskan Native both dropped to 0 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.55%	91.24%	-1.42%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	2.35%	0%
Black	3.35%	2.14%	-36.12%
Hispanic	0%	1.71%	0%
Two or More Races	1.68%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.12%	0%	0%