Explore the Family Name Yerkes

The meaning of Yerkes

Americanized form of German Jerkes, Jerks, a patronymic from the personal name Jerke.

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

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

According to the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Yerkes experienced a slight decline in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 14,491st among all surnames in the U.S., but by 2010 it dropped to 15,560th place, a decrease of 7.38 percent. The number of individuals with the Yerkes surname also slightly decreased during this period, falling from 1,887 in 2000 to 1,880 in 2010 — a marginal decline of 0.37 percent. The proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 population decreased by 8.57 percent, going from 0.7 in 2000 to 0.64 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#14,491	#15,560	-7.38%
Count	1,887	1,880	-0.37%
Proportion per 100k	0.7	0.64	-8.57%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Yerkes

The ethnic identity of individuals with the Yerkes surname also showed some variations between 2000 and 2010, as revealed by the Decennial U.S. Census data. Those identifying as White represented the majority, although their percentage slightly decreased from 96.77 percent in 2000 to 95.74 percent in 2010. The Asian/Pacific Islander group saw the most significant increase, rising by a remarkable 165.38 percent, from 0.26 percent in 2000 to 0.69 percent in 2010. The proportion of those who identified as two or more races increased by 15.84 percent, while those identifying as Hispanic rose by 3.66 percent. The proportions for Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native groups remained constant at zero, indicating no individuals of these ethnicities carried the Yerkes surname during this period.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.77%	95.74%	-1.06%
Hispanic	1.64%	1.7%	3.66%
Two or More Races	1.01%	1.17%	15.84%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.26%	0.69%	165.38%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%