# Jenks (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/jenks/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname originating as a patronymic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 7,396 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,782 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 41,745 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.6% (7,138 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From a back-formation of Jenkin + the patronymic suffix -s.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Jenks in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 2.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.1% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Jenks in the United States.

## People named Jenks

- Frank Jenks, American actor (1902-1962)
- Bobby Jenks, American baseball player (1981–2025)
- Jeremiah Whipple Jenks, (1856-1929) American economist
- Pi'erre Bourne, American record producer and rapper (born 1993)

## Similar surnames

Jinks, Jeans, Jenness, Jeanes, Jones, James, Johns, Jung, Jiang, Jaimes, Jonas, Jang.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.