Explore the Family Name Zelensky

The meaning of Zelensky

1. Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Jewish (from Belarus and Ukraine): habitational name for someone from a place called Zelenki or Zelenka in Ukraine, and Zelena in Belarus, from an East Slavic word meaning ‘green’. Compare Zelinsky and Selensky. 2. Slovak and Czech (Zelenský): habitational name for someone from a place called Zelené. 3. Americanized form of Polish Zieliński (see Zielinski) or Żeleński (see Zelenski). Compare Selensky.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Zelensky saw a slight decrease in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname dropped by 1.24% from 84,310 in 2000 to 85,357 in 2010. Similarly, the proportion per 100,000 people also fell by 12.5%, indicating that fewer individuals carried this surname in 2010 compared to 2000. However, the count of individuals with the Zelensky surname did increase by 5.8%, reaching a total of 219 people in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#84,310	#85,357	-1.24%
Count	207	219	5.8%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.07	-12.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Zelensky

The ethnic identity associated with the Zelensky surname is predominantly white, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, approximately 99.03% of individuals with this surname identified as white, though this number slightly decreased to 97.72% in 2010. There were no reported instances of individuals with the Zelensky surname identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaskan Native, or belonging to two or more races during both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	99.03%	97.72%	-1.32%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%