Explore the Family Name Vanek

The meaning of Vanek

Czech (Vaněk) and Slovak (also Vaněk): from a pet form of the personal name Václav (see Vaclav). Compare Wanek and Wanke.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Vanek has seen a minor decline between 2000 and 2010. The surname was ranked 10,811 in 2000 but slipped slightly to 11,697 by 2010, reflecting an 8.2% decrease in its ranking. In terms of count, there were 2,706 individuals with the Vanek surname in 2000, dropping slightly to 2,679 in 2010, a subtle decrease of 1%. Likewise, the proportion per 100,000 people also decreased from 1.0 to 0.91 over the decade, a reduction of 9%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#10,811	#11,697	-8.2%
Count	2,706	2,679	-1%
Proportion per 100k	1	0.91	-9%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Vanek

The Decennial U.S. Census data on ethnicity shows that the Vanek surname is predominantly associated with White ethnicity, though it has seen a slight decrease from 96.6% in 2000 to 95.63% in 2010. The period also saw an increase in diversity among those bearing the Vanek name. There was a notable rise in Hispanic ethnicity from 1.55% to 2.05%, amounting to an increase of 32.26%. The Asian/Pacific Islander representation went up from 0.74% to 0.82%, a change of 10.81%. Additionally, the data showed a small growth in the proportion of people with two or more ethnic identities, moving from 0.63% to 0.67%. The data for Black, American Indian, and Alaskan Native ethnicities were suppressed for privacy in 2000, but by 2010, they made up 0.37% and 0.45% of the Vanek surname bearers respectively.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.6%	95.63%	-1%
Hispanic	1.55%	2.05%	32.26%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.74%	0.82%	10.81%
Two or More Races	0.63%	0.67%	6.35%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.45%	0%
Black	0%	0.37%	0%