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

Apel, 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 Apel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Apel in America

Apel is the 15296th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Apel surname appeared 1,919 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 Apel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Apel 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 Apel

The surname Apel has its origins in Germany and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The name is derived from the German word "Apfel," meaning "apple," and was likely initially given as a descriptive surname to someone who lived near an apple orchard or was involved in the cultivation of apples.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Apel can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of historical documents from Saxony, Germany, dating back to the 13th century. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Apel," "Appel," and "Appele," reflecting the regional variations in pronunciation and spelling.

In the 14th century, the surname Apel is mentioned in the Deutsches Städtebuch, a historical record of German cities and towns. This suggests that individuals bearing this surname may have been residing in urban areas during that time period.

The earliest known individual with the surname Apel is Johann Apel, a German theologian and philosopher who lived from 1486 to 1536. He was an influential figure in the Protestant Reformation and served as a professor at the University of Wittenberg.

Another notable bearer of the surname Apel was Johann August Apel, a German composer and organist who lived from 1771 to 1816. He is best known for his compositions for organ and church music.

In the 19th century, the surname Apel gained prominence with the birth of Karl Ferdinand Apel (1812-1859), a German philologist and lexicographer. He is renowned for his contributions to the study of Old High German and Middle High German languages.

The surname Apel has also been associated with place names in Germany, such as Apelern, a village in Lower Saxony, and Apelnstedt, a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt. These place names may have influenced the spread and distribution of the surname in different regions.

Other notable individuals with the surname Apel include Willy Apel (1893-1988), a German-American musicologist and professor at Harvard University, and Paul Apel (1917-1999), a German-American psychologist and philosopher who made significant contributions to the field of semiotics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Apel

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

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 Apel 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 Apel 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 Apel was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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