Explore the Family Name Knock

The meaning of Knock

1. German: northern variant of Knoche. 2. German: possibly a habitational name from Knock near Emden. 3. English (East Anglia and southeastern): from Middle English kno(c)k ‘hill, hillock’ (Old English cnocc). The name may be topographic, for someone who lived by a small hill, or habitational, from a place so named, such as Knock Farm in Stone cum Ebony (Kent) or Knock Hatch in Arlington (Sussex).

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Knock" has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. The data shows that it was ranked 32,129th in 2000, but fell to 34,427th by 2010, marking a 7.15 percent decrease. Moreover, the number of individuals possessing this surname also dropped from 677 to 658, indicating a 2.81 percent reduction. Consequently, the proportion per 100,000 people also declined by 12 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#32,129	#34,427	-7.15%
Count	677	658	-2.81%
Proportion per 100k	0.25	0.22	-12%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Knock

On the ethnicity front, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census presents an interesting shift. The majority of those with the surname "Knock" identified as White, increasing slightly from 90.10 percent in 2000 to 91.64 percent in 2010. In comparison, the percentage of Black individuals and Asian/Pacific Islanders with this surname decreased by 32.88 percent and 31.53 percent respectively. However, there was a rise in people identifying as belonging to two or more ethnicities, with an increase from 2.95 percent to 3.34 percent. No change was noted for those identifying as Hispanic or American Indian and Alaskan Native.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.1%	91.64%	1.71%
Two or More Races	2.95%	3.34%	13.22%
Black	2.95%	1.98%	-32.88%
Asian/Pacific Islander	2.22%	1.52%	-31.53%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%