How common is the surname Kern?

28,547 people in the United States had the surname Kern in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,815 Americans. It ranked 1,237th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Kern?

Christian Kern, Austrian politician and businessman, followed by Jerome Kern.

Where is the surname Kern most common?

Wikidata records people named Kern in the United States, Austria and the Russian Empire and 1 other country.

Is the surname Kern getting more or less common?

More common. 27,634 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 28,547 in 2010, up 3.3%.

The surname Kern

A surname, carried by 28,547 people in the United States.

Pronounced /kɝn/ 1 syllable Soundex K650

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kern is more common than 99.2% of them.

Origin

The unincorporated community in Missouri is named after Robert Kern. The Kern River is named after Edward Kern.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 28,547 people named Kern in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 10,815 Americans. That is up 3.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 27,634.

#1,237

rank among US surnames

28,547

people in 2010

9.7

per 100,000 Americans

+3.3%

change since 2000 (was #1,162)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,229	Rankin	28,821	10,713
#1,230	Godfrey	28,734	10,745
#1,231	Chamberlain	28,727	10,748
#1,232	Fink	28,701	10,757
#1,233	Hollis	28,617	10,789
#1,234	Foreman	28,605	10,793
#1,235	Carranza	28,581	10,802

Who is named Kern

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

93% of people named Kern identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 93%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.2%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Kerns

14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Christian Kern
Austrian politician and businessman, born 1966
Jerome Kern
American composer of musical theater and popular music (1885-1945)
Peter Kern
Austrian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer (1949-2015)
Anna Kern
19th-century Russian socialite and memoirist, 1800–1879
Kevin Kern
American musician, born 1958
John W. Kern
American politician (1849–1917)
Joey Kern
American actor, born 1976
Hal C. Kern
American film editor (1894–1985)
Jakob Franz Alexander Kern
Austrian priest (1897–1924)
Patricia Kern Holmgren
American botanist, botanical collector, curator, editor and director of the William and Ly, born 1940
Robert J. Kern
American film editor (1885-1972)
Richard Kern
American filmmaker (born 1954)

Notable Kerns come mostly from the United States (9), Austria (3) and the Russian Empire (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Keirn

Surnames that sound like Kern

Kern has the Soundex code K650, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K650.

Questions

Where does the surname Kern come from?: The unincorporated community in Missouri is named after Robert Kern. The Kern River is named after Edward Kern.
How common is the surname Kern?: 28,547 people in the United States had the surname Kern in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 10,815 Americans. It ranked 1,237th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Kern?: In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Kern identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Kern?: Christian Kern, Austrian politician and businessman, followed by Jerome Kern.
Where is the surname Kern most common?: Wikidata records people named Kern in the United States, Austria and the Russian Empire and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Kern?: Kern is /kɝn/, one syllable.
Is the surname Kern getting more or less common?: More common. 27,634 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 28,547 in 2010, up 3.3%.
What are other spellings of Kern?: Keirn.