Explore the Family Name Polycarpe

The meaning of Polycarpe

French and Haitian: from the French personal name Polycarpe, Latin Polycarpus, from Greek Polykarpos, from the adjective polykarpos ‘fruitful’ (composed of polys ‘a lot of’ and karpos ‘fruit’, a word with mystical connotations among early Christians). St. Polycarp was a 2nd-century bishop of Smyrna said to have known the Apostle John; he is regarded as one of the Apostolic Fathers. This surname was brought to the US from Haiti.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Polycarpe has significantly increased between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname improved from 81,700 in 2000 to 61,585 in 2010, a change of roughly 24.62%. In terms of count, there were only 215 individuals with the Polycarpe surname in 2000, which then surged to 326, marking a substantial increase of 51.63%. Moreover, the proportion per 100,000 people also rose by 37.5% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#81,700	#61,585	24.62%
Count	215	326	51.63%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.11	37.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Polycarpe

The data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows diverse ethnic identities associated with the surname Polycarpe. In 2000, 86.98% identified as Black, which increased to 96.93% in 2010. A small percentage, 3.72%, identified as Hispanic in 2000, which decreased to 1.84% by 2010. People who identified as two or more races made up 8.84% in 2000, but this figure was suppressed in 2010 for privacy reasons. There were no recorded instances of this surname among the Asian/Pacific Islander, White, or American Indian and Alaskan Native populations in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	86.98%	96.93%	11.44%
Hispanic	3.72%	1.84%	-50.54%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	8.84%	0%	0%
White	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%