Explore the Family Name Sankar

The meaning of Sankar

Indian (southern states): variant of Shankar. Some characteristic forenames: Indian Ravi, Subramanian, Kalpana, Krishna, Radha, Ananth, Aravind, Ashok, Balram, Bhavani, Chandra, Chetan.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Sankar has notably increased between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Sankar was ranked as the 26,306th most popular surname in the United States, but by 2010 it climbed to the 19,282nd spot, experiencing a significant change of 26.7%. The number of people bearing the Sankar surname also grew during this period. There were 873 individuals with this name in 2000, increasing to 1,405 by 2010, marking a substantial growth of nearly 61%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#26,306	#19,282	26.7%
Count	873	1,405	60.94%
Proportion per 100k	0.32	0.48	50%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sankar

When it comes to the ethnic identity associated with the surname Sankar, data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals some interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals with this surname identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, increasing from 50.74% in 2000 to 60.50% in 2010. However, the percentage of Sankars identifying with two or more races decreased dramatically, falling by over 70%. Meanwhile, there was a slight increase in those identifying as White (from 7.67% to 9.04%) and a notable rise in those identifying as Black (14.78% to 20.21%). The proportion of Sankars identifying as Hispanic slightly decreased, whereas the percentage of those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native rose by 54.78%.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	50.74%	60.5%	19.24%
Black	14.78%	20.21%	36.74%
White	7.67%	9.04%	17.86%
Two or More Races	23.94%	7.12%	-70.26%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.15%	1.78%	54.78%
Hispanic	1.72%	1.35%	-21.51%