Explore the Family Name Tunkara

The meaning of Tunkara

West African (Gambia and Sierra Leone): from the name of the Tunkara clan of the Mandinka and the closely related Soninke peoples, from tunkara, a Soninke royal epithet from the times of the Ghana Empire (11th century).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Tunkara has seen a significant increase in the United States from 2000 to 2010. Ranked at 101,654 in 2000, it climbed to 50,467 by 2010, marking a noteworthy change of over 50%. The count of individuals with this surname also grew dramatically during this period, from 164 to 414 people, reflecting an increase of more than 150%. In terms of proportion per 100,000 people, the Tunkara surname went from 0.06 to 0.14, indicating a rise of approximately 133%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#101,654	#50,467	50.35%
Count	164	414	152.44%
Proportion per 100k	0.06	0.14	133.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tunkara

When examining the ethnicity associated with the Tunkara surname, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows a diverse range. In 2000, the majority of individuals with this last name identified as Black (89.63%). This figure slightly increased to 92.27% by 2010. Over the decade, there was also a small emergence of Asian/Pacific Islander, White, and Hispanic identifiers, each making up about 1-2% of the Tunkara population in 2010. Those identifying with two or more races declined from 4.88% to 2.66% over the same period. There were no individuals who identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	89.63%	92.27%	2.95%
Two or More Races	4.88%	2.66%	-45.49%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	2.17%	0%
White	0%	1.45%	0%
Hispanic	0%	1.45%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%