Explore the Family Name Polkinghorne

The meaning of Polkinghorne

Cornish: variant of Polkinghorn.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Polkinghorne has seen a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Polkinghorne was ranked as the 57,406th most popular surname, but by 2010 it had slipped to 61,123rd place, representing a change of -6.47%. The actual count of individuals carrying this surname also decreased marginally from 332 to 329 during this decade, a reduction of 0.9%. Thus, the proportion of people with the surname Polkinghorne per 100,000 dropped by 8.33%, from 0.12 to 0.11.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#57,406	#61,123	-6.47%
Count	332	329	-0.9%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.11	-8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Polkinghorne

When we examine the ethnicity distribution of the surname Polkinghorne, again based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, we see a predominance of White identity associated with this name. In 2000, 96.69% of individuals with this surname identified as White, though this percentage saw a slight decline to 95.14% by 2010. There were no recorded instances of individuals with this surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year. However, there was a notable increase in the proportion of individuals with this surname identifying as Hispanic, rising from 1.81% in 2000 to 2.13% in 2010, marking an increase of 17.68%. Additionally, the category of "Two or more races" appeared in 2010, accounting for 1.52% of the Polkinghornes, which was not present in the 2000 data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.69%	95.14%	-1.6%
Hispanic	1.81%	2.13%	17.68%
Two or More Races	0%	1.52%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%