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

Arnold, 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 Arnold surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Arnold in America

Arnold is the 201st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Arnold surname appeared 138,893 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 47 people would have the surname Arnold.

We can also compare 2010 data for Arnold 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 Arnold

The surname ARNOLD has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages. It is derived from the Old German name Arnwald or Arnold, which is composed of the elements 'arn' meaning eagle and 'wald' meaning ruler or power. The name translates to 'ruler of the eagles' or 'one with the strength of an eagle'.

The name first appeared in historical records in the 8th century, with references to individuals bearing this surname in regions of modern-day Germany and the Low Countries. One of the earliest known records is in the Codex Aureus of Echternach, a 7th-century manuscript from the Benedictine abbey in Echternach, Luxembourg, which mentions an individual named Arnoldus.

In the 11th century, the ARNOLD surname is found in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, a survey of landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest of England. This record lists several individuals with variations of the name, such as Arnoldus and Arnaldus, holding lands in various parts of England.

Notable historical figures bearing the ARNOLD surname include Arnold of Brescia (c. 1090-1155), an Italian scholar and political agitator who played a prominent role in the conflict between Pope Innocent II and the Roman commune. Another notable figure is Sir Nicholas Arnold (c. 1508-1580), an English courtier and Member of Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I.

In the 13th century, the surname ARNOLD was associated with place names such as Arnoldston in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and Arnold in Nottinghamshire, England. These place names likely derived from individuals with the surname who held lands or settlements in those areas.

Other notable individuals with the ARNOLD surname include Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), an American military officer during the Revolutionary War who defected to the British Army; Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), an English poet and cultural critic; and Arnold Schwarzenegger (born 1947), an Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder, and former governor of California.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Arnold

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

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

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

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