Explore the Family Name Mengistu

The meaning of Mengistu

Ethiopian: from the personal name Mengistu, which is interpreted as ‘his government’ in the Amharic language. — Note: Since Ethiopians 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 Mengistu in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Mengistu has seen substantial growth in the United States. In 2000, it was ranked as the 62,775th most popular surname, but by 2010, it had jumped significantly to become the 33,772nd most popular, showing a 46.2% increase in rank. The count of individuals with this surname also grew from 298 people in 2000 to 674 people in 2010, a rise of approximately 126.17%. This suggests that the proportion of Mengistus per 100,000 people doubled from 0.11 to 0.23 between these two census years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#62,775	#33,772	46.2%
Count	298	674	126.17%
Proportion per 100k	0.11	0.23	109.09%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Mengistu

The ethnic identity associated with the Mengistu surname also shows notable changes according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, around 84.56% of Mengistus identified as Black, and this figure rose to 96.14% by 2010. There was a small percentage identifying as White (2.35% in 2000, decreasing to 2.08% in 2010). A significant change is noted in those identifying with two or more races, which decreased from 13.09% in 2000 to no reported individuals in 2010. A new development in 2010 was the appearance of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic, each constituting 0.74% of the Mengistus.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	84.56%	96.14%	13.69%
White	2.35%	2.08%	-11.49%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.74%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0.74%	0%
Two or More Races	13.09%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%