How common is the surname Wake?

2,739 people in the United States had the surname Wake in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 112,722 Americans. It ranked 11,488th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Wake?

William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (1657-1737), followed by Cameron Wake.

Where is the surname Wake most common?

Wikidata records people named Wake in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States.

How do you pronounce Wake?

Wake is /ˈweɪk/, one syllable.

Is the surname Wake getting more or less common?

More common. 2,430 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,739 in 2010, up 13%.

The surname Wake

A Norse surname, carried by 2,739 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈweɪk/ 1 syllable Soundex W200

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Wake is more common than 92.9% of them.

Origin

Norse origin

English and Scottish surname from Old Norse vakr (“vigilant, wakeful”).

One of 126 Norse surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 2,739 people named Wake in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 112,722 Americans. That is up 13% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,430.

#11,488

rank among US surnames

2,739

people in 2010

0.9

per 100,000 Americans

+12.7%

change since 2000 (was #11,807)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#11,484	Decicco	2,740	112,681
#11,488	Mangus	2,739	112,722
#11,493	Duffin	2,738	112,763
#11,497	Greenspan	2,737	112,804

Who is named Wake

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

77% of people named Wake identified as white (not Hispanic), 15% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.3% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

White (not Hispanic) 77%
Black (not Hispanic) 15%
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.3%
Two or more races 2.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Wakes

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

William Wake
Archbishop of Canterbury (1657-1737)
Cameron Wake
American football defensive lineman, linebacker, born 1982

Notable Wakes come mostly from the Kingdom of Great Britain (1) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Wake

Wake has the Soundex code W200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W200.

Other Norse surnames

All 126 Norse surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Wake come from?: English and Scottish surname from Old Norse vakr (“vigilant, wakeful”).
How common is the surname Wake?: 2,739 people in the United States had the surname Wake in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 112,722 Americans. It ranked 11,488th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wake?: In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Wake identified as white (not Hispanic), and 15% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wake?: William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (1657-1737), followed by Cameron Wake.
Where is the surname Wake most common?: Wikidata records people named Wake in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States.
How do you pronounce Wake?: Wake is /ˈweɪk/, one syllable.
Is the surname Wake getting more or less common?: More common. 2,430 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,739 in 2010, up 13%.