Explore the Family Name Ploch

The meaning of Ploch

1. South German: nickname for a crude, clumsy, or short and fat individual, from Middle High German bloch ‘block, stocks, trap’. 2. Polish (also Płoch): unflattering nickname from płochy ‘timid’ or ‘sluttish’. Some characteristic forenames: German Florian, Fritz, Kurt, Otto.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Ploch experienced a decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked as the 30,120th most common surname in the United States, but fell to the 33,530th position by 2010, equating to an 11.32% decrease. The actual count of individuals with this surname also dropped from 734 to 680 during this period, translating to a 7.36% decrease. Proportionally, for every 100,000 people, approximately 0.27 had the surname Ploch in 2000, falling to 0.23 by 2010, a drop of 14.81%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#30,120	#33,530	-11.32%
Count	734	680	-7.36%
Proportion per 100k	0.27	0.23	-14.81%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ploch

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Ploch identify as white. In 2000, 95.78% identified as white, declining slightly to 94.85% by 2010. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or belonging to two or more races were present in 2000, but their numbers were suppressed by 2010 for privacy reasons. Interestingly, the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase, jumping from 1.63% in 2000 to 3.82% in 2010, a rise of 134.36%. There was no recorded change in the number of individuals identifying as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native over these years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.78%	94.85%	-0.97%
Hispanic	1.63%	3.82%	134.36%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.68%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	1.5%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%