Find out how popular the last name Abels is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Abels.

Abels, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Abels surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Abels in America

Abels is the 17896th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Abels surname appeared 1,562 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Abels.

We can also compare 2010 data for Abels to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Abels

The surname ABELS is of German origin, derived from the personal name Abel, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Abel, meaning "breath" or "vanity." The name ABELS was particularly prevalent in northern Germany, especially in areas like Lower Saxony and Westphalia.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname ABELS can be found in the Bremisches Urkundenbuch, a collection of medieval documents from the city of Bremen, dating back to the 13th century. The name was also documented in the Lübecker Oberstadtbuch, a register of citizens in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, from the late 14th century.

In the 16th century, the surname ABELS appeared in various records across northern Germany, including the Kirchenbücher (church registers) of several towns and villages. One notable individual from this period was Johann ABELS (c. 1520-1584), a Lutheran theologian and reformer from the town of Meissen in Saxony.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the ABELS family was well-established in several German principalities, such as Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Notable bearers of the name included Friedrich ABELS (1645-1718), a jurist and legal scholar from Rostock, and Johann Gottfried ABELS (1720-1788), a Lutheran pastor and theologian from Altenburg.

In the 19th century, the ABELS surname spread beyond Germany, with many individuals emigrating to other parts of Europe and the United States. One notable figure was Wilhelm ABELS (1827-1900), a German-American architect and civil engineer who designed several prominent buildings in New York City, including the original St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Other notable individuals with the surname ABELS include:

1. Otto ABELS (1824-1898), a German mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry.
2. Alfred ABELS (1894-1976), a German-American photographer and cinematographer.
3. Theodor ABELS (1898-1965), a German writer and poet.
4. Esther ABELS (1891-1983), an American author and journalist.
5. Bernhard ABELS (1938-2022), a German mathematician and academic.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Abels

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Abels.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Abels was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Abels has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Abels was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Abels, please contact us.

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