How common is the surname Wilks?

8,972 people in the United States had the surname Wilks in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 34,412 Americans. It ranked 3,962nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Wilks?

Mike Wilks, American basketball player (born 1979), followed by Samuel Wilks.

Where is the surname Wilks most common?

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

Is the surname Wilks getting more or less common?

More common. 8,686 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,972 in 2010, up 3.3%.

What are other spellings of Wilks?

Wilk, Wilke, Wilkie, Wilkey and Wilkes.

The surname Wilks

A patronymic surname, carried by 8,972 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). Wilks is more common than 97.6% of them.

Origin

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

Wilks 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 8,972 people named Wilks in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 34,412 Americans. That is up 3.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,686.

#3,962

rank among US surnames

8,972

people in 2010

3.0

per 100,000 Americans

+3.3%

change since 2000 (was #3,749)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,953	Clarkson	9,004	34,290
#3,954	Mullis	9,003	34,294
#3,955	Beattie	8,993	34,332
#3,956	Sigler	8,992	34,336
#3,957	Neuman	8,982	34,374
#3,958	Sevilla	8,980	34,381
#3,959	Pollack	8,977	34,393

Who is named Wilks

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

63% of people named Wilks identified as white (not Hispanic), 32% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 63%
Black (not Hispanic) 32%
Two or more races 2.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Wilkss

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Mike Wilks
American basketball player (born 1979)
Samuel Wilks
British doctor (1824–1911)
Maurice Wilks
British automobile designer, 1904–1963

Notable Wilkss come mostly from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (2) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Wilks

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

Questions

Where does the surname Wilks come from?: From Wilk, a back-formation from Wilkin + the patronymic suffix -s.
How common is the surname Wilks?: 8,972 people in the United States had the surname Wilks in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 34,412 Americans. It ranked 3,962nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Wilks?: In the 2010 Census, 63% of people named Wilks identified as white (not Hispanic), and 32% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Wilks?: Mike Wilks, American basketball player (born 1979), followed by Samuel Wilks.
Where is the surname Wilks most common?: Wikidata records people named Wilks in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States.
What type of surname is Wilks?: Wilks is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Wilks getting more or less common?: More common. 8,686 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,972 in 2010, up 3.3%.
What are other spellings of Wilks?: Wilk, Wilke, Wilkie, Wilkey and Wilkes.