# Kafka (surname)

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

A surname from German.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | German |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,705 |
| US rank (2010) | 16,761 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 181,082 people |
| Change since 2000 | -2.7% (1,753 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɑfkɑ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From German Kafka, from Czech German Kavka (“jackdaw”), from either Upper Sorbian or Lower Sorbian, which are ultimately from the Proto-Slavic *kavъka, imitating the call of a jackdaw. Compare Polish kawka, Czech kavka, Slovene kávka, all meaning “jackdaw”.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Kafka 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) | 93% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Kafka in Cisleithania and Austria.

## People named Kafka

- Franz Kafka, Bohemian writer from Prague (1883–1924)
- Gustav Kafka, Austrian academic (1883–1953)

## Similar surnames

Kovacs, Kovach, Kobayashi, Kubiak, Koepke, Kubik, Kovac, Kopec, Kopecky, Kappes, Kopacz, Kobus.

## 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.