# Karas (surname)

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

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Turkish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,858 |
| US rank (2010) | 5,890 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 52,705 people |
| Change since 2000 | +20% (4,894 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Slavic and Jewish surname (Polish Karaś, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Upper Sorbian): all from the noun karaś (“crucian carp”). Compare Caras, Karasch, Karras. * As a Hungarian surname, from the name of the river Karaš, itself possibly from Turkish kara (“black”). Also Americanized from Kárász, itself related to the carp sense above. * As a Greek surname, from κάρας (káras, “black”), itself from the Turkish word. Also shortened from names like Καραγεωργίου (Karageorgíou, “Black George”), Καραγιάννης (Karagiánnis, “black John”), etc. Compare Caras, Kara, Karras. * As a German surname, shortened from names like Zacharias, or Ancient Greek μακάριος (makários, “blessed”), Christian saint's name.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Karas 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) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 5.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Karas in Austria.

## People named Karas

- Anton Karas, Austrian musician, composer (1906–1985)
- Othmar Karas, Austrian politician serving as First Vice-President of the European Parliament

## Similar surnames

Kearse, Karras, Karg, Kirk, Krause, Kruse, Kraus, Kirsch, Kersey, Krug, Kress, Krauss.

## 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.