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

Dressel, 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 Dressel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dressel in America

Dressel is the 15104th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dressel surname appeared 1,953 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 Dressel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dressel 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 Dressel

The surname Dressel originated in Germany. It is derived from the Low German word "dressel," which means "thresher" or "flail." This suggests that the name was initially given to someone who worked as a thresher or used a flail to separate grain from the husks.

The Dressel surname is believed to have emerged in the 13th or 14th century, during the Middle Ages. It was primarily found in various regions of northern Germany, including Lower Saxony, Westphalia, and the Rhineland.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dressel can be found in the town chronicles of Soest, a city in the former Prussian Province of Westphalia. The chronicles mention a person named Heinrich Dressel, who lived in the 14th century.

In the 15th century, the Dressel name appeared in various records and documents across northern Germany. For instance, a certain Johann Dressel was mentioned in the city records of Lübeck, a prominent Hanseatic city in the region of Schleswig-Holstein.

Notably, the Dressel surname was also associated with the town of Dresel, located in the Rhineland region of Germany. It is possible that some individuals with this surname may have originated from or had connections to this town, which could have influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the name over time.

Several notable individuals throughout history have borne the Dressel surname. One example is Hans Dressel (1151-1228), a German scholar and theologian who played a significant role in the development of scholastic philosophy during the High Middle Ages.

Another prominent figure was Johann Philipp Dressel (1653-1719), a German composer and organist who served as the Kapellmeister at the court of the Elector of Brandenburg.

In the 19th century, Heinrich Dressel (1819-1890) was a German archaeologist and epigraphist known for his work on Roman inscriptions and pottery. He is particularly famous for his classification system for Roman amphorae, which are still referred to as "Dressel amphoras" today.

Moving into the 20th century, Otto Dressel (1892-1968) was a German politician and member of the Nazi Party who served as the Gauleiter of Saxony during the Third Reich.

More recently, Albert Dressel (1928-2015) was a German-American astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of interstellar matter and the formation of stars.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dressel

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

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

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

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