Explore the Family Name Wage

The meaning of Wage

1. German and Norwegian: variant of Waage. 2. German (Wäge): nickname for a smart, good looking person, from Middle High German wæhe ‘pretty, neat’. 3. Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name from German Waage ‘scales’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname 'Wage' decreased between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 51,119th in terms of popularity and had a count of 383 occurrences. By 2010, it dropped to the 56,310th position, with only 363 occurrences recorded. This represents a decline of 10.15% in rank and a reduction of 5.22% in count over the decade. Furthermore, the proportion of the surname 'Wage' per 100,000 population also fell by 14.29%, from 0.14 to 0.12.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#51,119	#56,310	-10.15%
Count	383	363	-5.22%
Proportion per 100k	0.14	0.12	-14.29%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wage

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows a shift in the ethnic identity associated with the surname 'Wage' between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders with this surname nearly doubled, increasing from 4.70% to 9.09%. There was also a small increase in Hispanic representation, going from 0% to 1.93%. However, the percentage of Black individuals with this surname significantly decreased from 3.66% to 1.38%. Similarly, the proportion of individuals identifying as White and bearing the surname also diminished slightly from 88.51% to 86.23%. There were no individuals of Two or more races or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnicity reported with this surname in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	88.51%	86.23%	-2.58%
Asian/Pacific Islander	4.7%	9.09%	93.4%
Hispanic	0%	1.93%	0%
Black	3.66%	1.38%	-62.3%
Two or More Races	1.57%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%