Explore the Family Name Taras

The meaning of Taras

Ukrainian and Belorussian: from the personal name Taras, Greek Tarasios ‘native of Taras’ (i.e. of the city of Taranto in southern Italy), borne by an 8th-century patriarch of Constantinople, venerated in the Eastern Church.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Taras experienced a decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Taras was ranked 34,673rd most common surname, but it dropped to 43,584th place by 2010, representing a significant decline of 25.7%. The overall count of people with this surname also decreased during this period, from 617 to 495, marking a drop of 19.77%. Furthermore, the proportion of individuals with the Taras surname per 100,000 people fell by 26.09%, from 0.23 to 0.17.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#34,673	#43,584	-25.7%
Count	617	495	-19.77%
Proportion per 100k	0.23	0.17	-26.09%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Taras

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Taras shows some interesting trends as well, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The majority of individuals with this surname identify as White, constituting 95.79% in 2000 and slightly dipping to 95.15% in 2010. A small percentage identified as Hispanic, which saw an increase from 1.46% to 2.22% over the decade. Those identifying with two or more races declined by 20.79%, from 1.78% in 2000 to 1.41% in 2010. Interestingly, the Asian/Pacific Islander category showed growth from zero representation in 2000 to 1.21% in 2010. Both Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native categories had no representation in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.79%	95.15%	-0.67%
Hispanic	1.46%	2.22%	52.05%
Two or More Races	1.78%	1.41%	-20.79%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.21%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%