# Turk (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/turk/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,354 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,450 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 29,819 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.3% (10,021 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /tɝk/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Turke |

## Etymology

From Middle English Turke, Turk, from Old French Turc, from Medieval Latin Turcus, from Medieval Greek Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos), from Classical Persian تُرْک (turk), from Middle Persian [script needed] (twlk' /⁠turk⁠/), from Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜 (t²ẅr²ẅk²). See Proto-Turkic *tür(ü)k for more.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Turk 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) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 10% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.1% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Turk in Austria, the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Turk

- Volker Türk, Austrian politician and United Nations human rights chief (born 1965)
- Roy Turk, American songwriter and lyricist (1892-1934)
- Gavin Turk, British artist (born 1967)

## Similar surnames

Turek, Turco, Turck, Torres, Trejo, Tracy, Torrez, Trice, Tracey, Trask, Truax, Thrash.

## 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.