Explore the Family Name Polkinghorn

The meaning of Polkinghorn

Cornish: habitational name from a place in the parish of Gwinear, recorded in 1316 as Polkenhoern, from Cornish pol ‘pool, pond’ + the Old Cornish personal name Kenhoern (composed of elements meaning ‘hound’ + ‘iron’).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Polkinghorn experienced a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 58,397th most popular surname, but by 2010, it had slipped to the 59,017th position, representing a decline of 1.06%. However, despite this drop in rank, the actual number of people with the Polkinghorn surname increased slightly from 325 in 2000 to 343 in 2010, indicating a growth rate of 5.54%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#58,397	#59,017	-1.06%
Count	325	343	5.54%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.12	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Polkinghorn

When it comes to ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that a significant majority of individuals bearing the Polkinghorn surname identified as White in both 2000 (97.23%) and 2010 (93.88%), though there was a slight decrease of 3.45% over the decade. Meanwhile, the percentage identifying as Hispanic saw an increase of 41.62%, going up from 1.85% in 2000 to 2.62% in 2010. A small percentage also began to identify as Asian/Pacific Islander (1.46%) and those with two or more races (2.04%) in 2010, which weren't accounted for in the 2000 data. The proportions identifying as Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native remained at zero for both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.23%	93.88%	-3.45%
Hispanic	1.85%	2.62%	41.62%
Two or More Races	0%	2.04%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.46%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%