How common is the surname Kaplan?

29,582 people in the United States had the surname Kaplan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,437 Americans. It ranked 1,196th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Kaplan?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Kaplan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Kaplan?

Viktor Kaplan, Austrian-Czech engineer and inventor, followed by Robert D. Kaplan.

Where is the surname Kaplan most common?

Wikidata records people named Kaplan in the United States, Austria and Argentina and 3 other countries.

Is the surname Kaplan getting more or less common?

More common. 29,410 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 29,582 in 2010, up 0.6%.

The surname Kaplan

A Latin surname, carried by 29,582 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex K145

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kaplan is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

Latin origin

Ultimately from Latin cappellanus.

One of 91 Latin surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 29,582 people named Kaplan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 10,437 Americans. That is up 0.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 29,410.

#1,196

rank among US surnames

29,582

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+0.6%

change since 2000 (was #1,090)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,187	Lau	29,792	10,363
#1,188	Dale	29,757	10,376
#1,189	Camp	29,753	10,377
#1,190	Connolly	29,710	10,392
#1,191	Hewitt	29,694	10,398
#1,192	Cramer	29,691	10,399
#1,193	Goldberg	29,603	10,430

Who is named Kaplan

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Kaplan identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
Two or more races 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Kaplans

24 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Viktor Kaplan
Austrian-Czech engineer and inventor, 1876–1934
Robert D. Kaplan
American writer, born 1952
Marvin Kaplan
American actor (1927-2016)
Gilbert Kaplan
American businessman and amateur conductor (1941–2016)
Jonathan Kaplan
American director (1947–2025)
Jeff Kaplan
American video game designer, born 1972
Robert S. Kaplan
American accounting academic, born 1940
Avi Kaplan
American singer and songwriter, former member of Pentatonix, born 1989
Morton Kaplan
American editor (1921-2017)
David Kaplan
American philosopher and logician, born 1933
Julio Kaplan
Argentine-born Puerto Rican US grandmaster, born 1950
Helen Singer Kaplan
Austrian-American psychiatrist and sex therapist, 1929–1995

Notable Kaplans come mostly from the United States (18), Austria (2) and Argentina (1).

Other Latin surnames

All 91 Latin surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Kaplan come from?: Ultimately from Latin cappellanus.
How common is the surname Kaplan?: 29,582 people in the United States had the surname Kaplan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,437 Americans. It ranked 1,196th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Kaplan?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Kaplan identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Kaplan?: Viktor Kaplan, Austrian-Czech engineer and inventor, followed by Robert D. Kaplan.
Where is the surname Kaplan most common?: Wikidata records people named Kaplan in the United States, Austria and Argentina and 3 other countries.
Is the surname Kaplan getting more or less common?: More common. 29,410 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 29,582 in 2010, up 0.6%.