How common is the surname Nowak?

18,891 people in the United States had the surname Nowak in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,344 Americans. It ranked 1,902nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Nowak?

In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Nowak identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Is the surname Nowak getting more or less common?

More common. 18,515 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,891 in 2010, up 2.0%.

The surname Nowak

A Polish surname, carried by 18,891 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex N200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Nowak is more common than 98.8% of them.

Origin

Polish origin

Borrowed from Polish Nowak (“newcomer”).

One of 304 Polish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 18,891 people named Nowak in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 16,344 Americans. That is up 2.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 18,515.

#1,902

rank among US surnames

18,891

people in 2010

6.4

per 100,000 Americans

+2%

change since 2000 (was #1,777)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,893	Bateman	19,001	16,249
#1,894	Pulido	18,942	16,300
#1,895	Roche	18,940	16,301
#1,896	Tobin	18,932	16,308
#1,897	Zaragoza	18,908	16,329
#1,898	Isaac	18,903	16,333
#1,899	Spaulding	18,902	16,334

Who is named Nowak

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

96% of people named Nowak identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 96%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Nowak

Nowak has the Soundex code N200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code N200.

Other Polish surnames

All 304 Polish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Nowak come from?: Borrowed from Polish Nowak (“newcomer”).
How common is the surname Nowak?: 18,891 people in the United States had the surname Nowak in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,344 Americans. It ranked 1,902nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Nowak?: In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Nowak identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Is the surname Nowak getting more or less common?: More common. 18,515 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,891 in 2010, up 2.0%.