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Slack Family History

Slack Surname Meaning

English and Dutch: nickname for an idle person from Middle Dutch slac Middle English slak ‘lazy careless slow’ (Old English slæc).

English: from Middle English slak ‘small shallow valley hollow in the ground’ (Old Norse slakki).

The surname may be topographic for someone who lived in or by a shallow valley or hollow or habitational for someone from any of numerous minor places so named principally in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire.

Americanized form of Slovenian Slak 1 and perhaps also of Czech Šlak (see Slak).

Americanized form of Czech Slach: from the personal name Slach, a pet form of names beginning with Sla-, e.g. Slavomír.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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Where is the Slack family from?

You can see how Slack families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Slack family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Slack families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. In 1840 there were 46 Slack families living in Pennsylvania. This was about 16% of all the recorded Slack's in USA. Pennsylvania had the highest population of Slack families in 1840.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Slack surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
  • 1840
  • 1880
  • 1920
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What did your Slack ancestors do for a living?

In 1940, Laborer and Housewife were the top reported jobs for men and women in the USA named Slack. 15% of Slack men worked as a Laborer and 10% of Slack women worked as a Housewife. Some less common occupations for Americans named Slack were Clerk and Housekeeper.

View Census Data for Slack | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1940

  • Laborer
    15%
  • Farmer
    15%
  • Salesman
    6%
  • Clerk
    4%

Top Female Occupations In 1940

  • Housewife
    10%
  • Teacher
    9%
  • Stenographer
    7%
  • Housekeeper
    7%

What Slack family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 145,000 census records available for the last name Slack. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Slack census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search US census records for Slack

Passenger Lists

There are 11,000 immigration records available for the last name Slack. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Slack immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 17,000 military records available for the last name Slack. For the veterans among your Slack ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

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