Explore the Family Name Zemke

The meaning of Zemke

East German (of Slavic origin): from a Germanized pet form of an Old Slavic personal name, such as Zemislav, based on zemlja ‘earth, land’, or Sěmislav, based on sěmь ‘person’. Some characteristic forenames: German Hermann, Kurt, Ernst, Erwin, Otto.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Zemke slightly decreased in the United States between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked as the 21,273rd most popular surname, falling to the 22,081st spot a decade later, which represents a 3.8% drop. However, the count of people bearing this name increased marginally by 2.18%, from 1,148 in 2000 to 1,173 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people also saw a small decline of 6.98%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#21,273	#22,081	-3.8%
Count	1,148	1,173	2.18%
Proportion per 100k	0.43	0.4	-6.98%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Zemke

The census data also reveals insights into the ethnicity of people with the surname Zemke. In both 2000 and 2010, the majority identified as White, at 95.73% and 95.4% respectively, showing a minor decrease of 0.34%. Those identifying as Hispanic saw a slight increase of 4.35%, from 2.53% in 2000 to 2.64% in 2010. There were no recorded individuals of Asian/Pacific Islander or Black ethnicities in either year. Interestingly, there was an emergence of American Indian and Alaskan Native identities among the Zemke population in 2010 that wasn't present in 2000. At the same time, those reporting two or more ethnicities decreased by 30.33%, from 1.22% to 0.85% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.73%	95.4%	-0.34%
Hispanic	2.53%	2.64%	4.35%
Two or More Races	1.22%	0.85%	-30.33%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.6%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%