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

Axel, 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 Axel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Axel in America

Axel is the 33941st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Axel surname appeared 670 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Axel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Axel 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 Axel

The surname AXEL is of German origin, derived from the old Germanic name Axel or Axxel, which means "father of peace" or "the peaceful one." It emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 11th or 12th century, in the regions of present-day Germany and the Netherlands.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name AXEL can be found in the Judenbuch, a registry of Jewish residents in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, dating back to the late 13th century. The name appears as "Axxel" in this document.

In the 14th century, the AXEL surname appeared in various historical records across German-speaking regions, such as the Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis, a collection of documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The name was often associated with prominent families and landowners of the time.

Notable individuals with the surname AXEL include:

1. Veit AXEL (1492-1554), a German Lutheran theologian and reformer from Nuremberg, who played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation.
2. Christoph AXEL (1567-1632), a German composer and organist, known for his contributions to the development of Lutheran church music.
3. Johann AXEL (1644-1697), a German jurist and politician who served as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar.
4. Friedrich AXEL (1798-1876), a German botanist and horticulturist, renowned for his work on plant classification and his extensive collection of living plants.
5. Wilhelm AXEL (1856-1927), a German architect and urban planner, best known for his contributions to the design and development of Berlin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The surname AXEL has also been associated with various place names in Germany, such as Axelshausen, a village in Bavaria, and Axelrod, a former municipality in Saxony-Anhalt. These place names likely derived from individuals bearing the AXEL surname who settled or owned land in those areas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Axel

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

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

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

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