How common is the surname Welk?

2,407 people in the United States had the surname Welk in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 128,270 Americans. It ranked 12,812th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Welk?

In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Welk identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Welk?

Lawrence Welk, American musician, bandleader, and impresario (1903–1992).

Where is the surname Welk most common?

Wikidata records people named Welk in the United States.

Is the surname Welk getting more or less common?

More common. 1,916 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,407 in 2010, up 26%.

The surname Welk

A German surname, carried by 2,407 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex W420

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Welk is more common than 92.1% of them.

Origin

German origin

* As a German surname, variant of Welge, from Middle Low German welich (“lively, luxuriant”), from Old Saxon welag, from Proto-West Germanic *welag; also as a variant of Welsch. * Also as a German surname, from archaic Middle High German welc (“mild, soft”), from the root of the verb welken (“to wither”). * As a Lower Sorbian surname, from wjelk (“wolf”). * Also as a Sorbian surname, from the personal name Welimir, from Proto-Slavic *velь (“great”).

One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 2,407 people named Welk in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 128,270 Americans. That is up 26% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,916.

#12,812

rank among US surnames

2,407

people in 2010

0.8

per 100,000 Americans

+25.6%

change since 2000 (was #14,335)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#12,807	Loose	2,408	128,217
#12,812	Benard	2,407	128,270
#12,817	Carew	2,406	128,323
#12,821	Brugger	2,405	128,377

Who is named Welk

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

96% of people named Welk identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.0% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 96%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.4%
Two or more races 1.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Welks

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Lawrence Welk
American musician, bandleader, and impresario (1903–1992)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Welk

Welk has the Soundex code W420, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W420.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Welk come from?: * As a German surname, variant of Welge, from Middle Low German welich (“lively, luxuriant”), from Old Saxon welag, from Proto-West Germanic *welag; also as a variant of Welsch. * Also as a German surname, from archaic Middle High German welc (“mild, soft”), from the root of the verb welken (“to…
How common is the surname Welk?: 2,407 people in the United States had the surname Welk in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 128,270 Americans. It ranked 12,812th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Welk?: In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Welk identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Welk?: Lawrence Welk, American musician, bandleader, and impresario (1903–1992).
Where is the surname Welk most common?: Wikidata records people named Welk in the United States.
Is the surname Welk getting more or less common?: More common. 1,916 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,407 in 2010, up 26%.