The Shock surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 3,248 people carried this name — #9,932 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 90,900 people counted. That is up 3% from 3,162 in 2000.

Look up another surname

Share

Where the name comes from

The origin of the Shock surname

As an English surname, variant of Shuck.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Shock» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

28 families named Shock, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 155 people lived in those households, 5.5 to a family on average. The table counts it together with one other spelling. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 22
Maryland 3
Virginia 3

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 261 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Shock in American newspapers,
1910.

Newspaper page from Judith Gap Journal carrying the name Shock
Judith Gap Journal 1910-07-22

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.

In print

Shock in Australian newspapers,
1840s–1990s.

1,272 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Shock. The most, 334, date from the 1920s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in the Australian Capital Territory, at 1.6 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 413
Victoria 243
Queensland 201
South Australia 163
Western Australia 145
Tasmania 66
ACT (Canberra) 34
Northern Territory 2

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Shock.

Who carried it

People named Shock,
with a public archive behind them.

  • William H. Shock
    William H. Shock 1821–1905 · engineer
  • Nathan Wetherill Shock 1906– · writer
  • Maurice Shock 1926–2018 · political scientist

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 4 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Shock,
in the records of 2 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States268 records

268 records of the Shock name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 135
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 48
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 39
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 21
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 8
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 8
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 7
  • Sacramento County historic burials 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Vernon H. Shock

    Born 1922 in Maryland. Enlisted 1942 at Baltimore; driver from Baltimore County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1984, buried at Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery, Owings Mills, Maryland.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Jack Dean Shock

    Born 1947; from Las Vegas, Nevada. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1969 in Quang Tri, South Vietnam.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Soepan Shock

    Arrived at New York in 1904 aboard the Patricia from Plymouth, aged 17; laborer. From Weyda, Russia.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 268 records for Shock in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia4 records

4 records of the Shock name in Australia
  • Queensland State Archives indexes 3
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Reverend Shock

    Arrived in Victoria in 1903 aboard the Oceanien.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Francis Shock

    Wrote to the Colonial Secretary of Queensland in 1860.

    Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 2 of 4 records for Shock in Australia.

Counts: Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Shock.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Shock is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Shock volume
Scroll to Top