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

Croll, 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 Croll surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Croll in America

Croll is the 17047th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Croll surname appeared 1,666 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 Croll.

We can also compare 2010 data for Croll 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 Croll

The surname CROLL has its origins in Germany, where it first appeared in the 16th century. It is believed to be derived from the German word "kroll," which means "curly-haired" or "curly." This suggests that the name was originally a nickname given to someone with curly hair.

The earliest recorded instance of the name dates back to 1539 in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria, Germany. Here, a man named Hans Croll is mentioned in the town's records. It's possible that the name had already been in use for some time before this first recorded instance.

In the 17th century, the name appears in various German records and manuscripts, including the baptismal records of the Evangelical Church in Saxony. One notable entry is the birth of Johann Croll, a German chemist and physician, in 1598 in Leszno, Poland (which was then part of the Holy Roman Empire).

As the name spread across Europe, it took on different spellings and variations, such as Kroll, Krolle, and Krol. These variations were likely influenced by the local dialects and languages of the regions where the name was adopted.

One of the earliest instances of the CROLL name in English records is found in the 17th century, when a family by that name settled in the American colonies. John Croll, born in 1635 in Mulheim, Germany, immigrated to Pennsylvania in the late 1600s.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, several notable individuals bore the CROLL surname:

1. Oswald Croll (1580-1609), a German alchemist and philosopher from Marburg.
2. Henry Croll (1753-1821), a British landscape painter known for his watercolor paintings.
3. Benjamin Croll (1776-1852), an American politician and lawyer who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
4. James Croll (1821-1890), a Scottish scientist and climate theorist who proposed the Croll-Milankovitch theory of climate change.
5. John Croll (1856-1938), a Scottish-American architect known for his work in Seattle, Washington.

While the CROLL surname may have originated as a nickname for someone with curly hair, it has since become a proud family name carried by many individuals across different countries and cultures.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Croll

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

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

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

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