Explore the Family Name Van Kirk

The meaning of Van Kirk

Altered form of Dutch Verkerk, itself a shortened form of Van de Kerk: topographic name for someone who lived by a church, Middle Dutch kerke, or a habitational name for someone from a place called with this word.

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

How common is the last name Van Kirk in the United States?

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Van Kirk was ranked 9,856th in popularity in the year 2000, and then dropped slightly to 10,462nd in 2010. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the surname increased slightly from 3,025 in 2000 to 3,073 in 2010. This indicates a growth of 1.59% over the span of a decade. The proportion of people named Van Kirk per 100k also decreased by 7.14% during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#9,856	#10,462	-6.15%
Count	3,025	3,073	1.59%
Proportion per 100k	1.12	1.04	-7.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Van Kirk

In terms of ethnicity, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the Van Kirk surname saw a varying degree of changes over the decade. A majority of individuals identifying as White held the surname, although there was a slight decrease of 0.82% from 2000 to 2010. The Hispanic population with this surname saw a considerable increase of 57.58%, while the Asian/Pacific Islander category also grew by 28.30%. There was a modest increase of 10.00% in the Black community and 8.33% among those who identify with two or more races. However, the American Indian and Alaskan Native group saw a decline of 16.00% in carrying the Van Kirk surname from 2000 to 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.36%	95.57%	-0.82%
Hispanic	0.99%	1.56%	57.58%
Two or More Races	1.32%	1.43%	8.33%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.53%	0.68%	28.3%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.5%	0.42%	-16%
Black	0.3%	0.33%	10%