Explore the Family Name Sobek

The meaning of Sobek

Polish, Czech, and Slovak: from Sobek, a pet form of the personal names such as Polish Sobiesław and Czech Soběslav, based on the Old Slavic element sebe (Polish sobie, Czech sobě), dative and locative of se ‘oneself’. This surname is also found in Germany. Some characteristic forenames: German Manfred, Otto.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Sobek saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Sobek was ranked as the 37,043rd most popular surname in the United States, but by 2010, it had dropped slightly to the 37,180th spot, marking a -0.37% change. However, the actual number of people bearing the Sobek surname increased from 567 in 2000 to 600 in 2010, a growth of 5.82%. The proportion per 100k also declined marginally from 0.21 in 2000 to 0.2 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,043	#37,180	-0.37%
Count	567	600	5.82%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.2	-4.76%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sobek

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Sobek. In both 2000 and 2010, there were no recorded instances of this surname among Asian/Pacific Islanders, those identifying with two or more races, Black individuals, or American Indian and Alaskan Natives. The majority of individuals with the Sobek surname identified as White, although this percentage decreased from 98.24% in 2000 to 96.33% in 2010. Interestingly, the percentage of Sobeks identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase from 1.23% in 2000 to 2.17% in 2010, marking a 76.42% change.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.24%	96.33%	-1.94%
Hispanic	1.23%	2.17%	76.42%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%