Explore the Family Name Pankow

The meaning of Pankow

German: habitational name from a placename (several in Brandenburg) derived from the Slavic element pank, penk ‘swamp’ + -ow ‘place’ (German -au). Some characteristic forenames: German Bernd, Dieter, Erwin, Gerhardt, Kurt.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Pankow saw a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 18,196th most common surname, but dropped to the 19,321st ranking by 2010 - a 6.18% change. The count of individuals carrying the Pankow surname also decreased slightly during this period, from 1,410 to 1,401, marking a minimal decline of 0.64%. The proportion per 100,000 people similarly declined by 9.62%, from 0.52 to 0.47.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#18,196	#19,321	-6.18%
Count	1,410	1,401	-0.64%
Proportion per 100k	0.52	0.47	-9.62%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pankow

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Pankow also saw some changes between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The majority remained White, although it experienced a small decrease of 1.92%, shifting from 97.52% in 2000 to 95.65% in 2010. Meanwhile, those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and those reporting two or more races showed increases of 11.27% and 101.18% respectively. More interestingly, there were no individuals identified as Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native with the Pankow surname in 2000; however, by 2010, Hispanic representation had emerged at 1.28%, while the American Indian and Alaskan Native category dropped to zero.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.52%	95.65%	-1.92%
Two or More Races	0.85%	1.71%	101.18%
Hispanic	0%	1.28%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.71%	0.79%	11.27%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.64%	0%	0%