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

Dolph, 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 Dolph surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dolph in America

Dolph is the 16315th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dolph surname appeared 1,766 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 Dolph.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dolph 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 Dolph

The surname Dolph originates from Germany and dates back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic personal name Adolph, which is a compound of the Old High German words "adal" meaning noble and "wolf" meaning wolf. The name Adolph was popularized by the 9th century German ruler Adolf I, Count of Nassau.

The earliest recorded spelling of the name Dolph appears in the Codex Traditionum Westfalicum, a medieval cartulary from Westphalia, Germany, dating back to the 11th century. In this record, a landowner named Adolphus is mentioned as a witness to a land transaction.

During the 12th century, the name Dolph is found in the Annales Rodenses, a chronicle of the Abbey of Rhodensis in present-day Belgium. The text mentions a knight named Adolphus de Marca who was involved in a local conflict.

In the 13th century, the surname Dolph appears in the Liber Monasterii de Hyda, a cartulary from the Hyde Abbey in Hampshire, England. The record refers to a tenant named Radulphus Dolph who held land from the abbey.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Dolph was Johann Dolph, a German physician and botanist born in Strasbourg in 1528. He published several influential works on medicinal plants and their uses.

Another prominent figure was Christoph Dolph, a German theologian and reformer born in Saxony in 1567. He played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation and was a close associate of Martin Luther.

In the 17th century, Johannes Dolph, a Dutch painter born in 1635, gained recognition for his still life and portrait paintings, which are now housed in various museums across Europe.

In the 18th century, Johann Dolph, a German composer and organist born in 1711, made notable contributions to the Baroque music tradition with his compositions for organ and harpsichord.

In the 19th century, John Dolph, an American politician born in 1806, served as a United States Senator from Oregon and was actively involved in the early development of the Oregon Territory.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dolph

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

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

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

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