How common is the surname Wilkes?

18,314 people in the United States had the surname Wilkes in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,858 Americans. It ranked 1,975th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Wilkes?

Maurice Wilkes, British computer scientist (1913–2010), followed by Jamaal Wilkes.

Where is the surname Wilkes most common?

Wikidata records people named Wilkes in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How do you pronounce Wilkes?

Wilkes is /wɪlkiːs/, one syllable.

Is the surname Wilkes getting more or less common?

More common. 17,797 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,314 in 2010, up 2.9%.

What are other spellings of Wilkes?

Wilk, Wilke, Wilkie, Wilkey and Wilks.

The surname Wilkes

A patronymic surname, carried by 18,314 people in the United States.

Pronounced /wɪlkiːs/ 1 syllable Soundex W422

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

Origin

From Wilk, a back-formation from Wilkin + the patronymic suffix -s.

Wilkes is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 18,314 people named Wilkes in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 16,858 Americans. That is up 2.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 17,797.

#1,975

rank among US surnames

18,314

people in 2010

6.2

per 100,000 Americans

+2.9%

change since 2000 (was #1,856)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,966	Hathaway	18,401	16,779
#1,967	Salcedo	18,387	16,792
#1,968	Presley	18,384	16,794
#1,969	Ernst	18,361	16,815
#1,970	Haywood	18,360	16,816
#1,971	Najera	18,340	16,835
#1,973	Stapleton	18,332	16,842

Who is named Wilkes

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

69% of people named Wilkes identified as white (not Hispanic), 25% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 69%
Black (not Hispanic) 25%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Two or more races 2.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Wilkess

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Maurice Wilkes
British computer scientist (1913–2010)
Jamaal Wilkes
American basketball player (born 1953)
Donna Wilkes
American film actress, born 1959
Del Wilkes
All-American college football player, professional wrestler (1961-2021)

Notable Wilkess come mostly from the United States (3) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Wilkes

Wilkes has the Soundex code W422, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W422.

Questions

Where does the surname Wilkes come from?: From Wilk, a back-formation from Wilkin + the patronymic suffix -s.
How common is the surname Wilkes?: 18,314 people in the United States had the surname Wilkes in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 16,858 Americans. It ranked 1,975th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wilkes?: In the 2010 Census, 69% of people named Wilkes identified as white (not Hispanic), and 25% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wilkes?: Maurice Wilkes, British computer scientist (1913–2010), followed by Jamaal Wilkes.
Where is the surname Wilkes most common?: Wikidata records people named Wilkes in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Wilkes?: Wilkes is /wɪlkiːs/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Wilkes?: Wilkes is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Wilkes getting more or less common?: More common. 17,797 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,314 in 2010, up 2.9%.
What are other spellings of Wilkes?: Wilk, Wilke, Wilkie, Wilkey and Wilks.