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

Falcon, 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 Falcon surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Falcon in America

Falcon is the 2398th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Falcon surname appeared 15,125 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Falcon.

We can also compare 2010 data for Falcon 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 Falcon

The surname Falcon is of Old French origin, derived from the Old French word "faucon" meaning "falcon" or "hawk". It first emerged as a surname in the 12th century in northern France and Normandy.

The name likely originated as a descriptive nickname for someone who excelled in falconry, the hunting sport involving trained birds of prey. It may also have been an occupational name for someone who bred or trained falcons. Some early bearers of the name may have been employed as falconers by noble households.

One of the earliest recorded examples of the surname Falcon can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists a Norman landowner named Falco in Lincolnshire, England. This was likely a variant spelling of the same name.

In the 13th century, the surname Falcon appeared in various medieval records across England and France, including the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which mentions a John Faucun in Oxfordshire. The variant spelling "Fawcon" was also common during this period.

Notable historical figures with the surname Falcon include Sir John Falcon (c.1330-1395), a prominent English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War, and Barthélemy Falcon (c.1485-1540), a French jurist and legal scholar who served as a counselor in the Parlement of Paris.

Other early bearers of the name include Jehan Faucon, a French merchant recorded in Paris in 1292, and William Fawcon, an English landowner mentioned in the Feet of Fines records for Yorkshire in 1379.

The surname Falcon was sometimes associated with place names, such as Falconhurst (from the Old English "falca" meaning "falcon" and "hyrst" meaning "wooded hill") and Falconbridge (from the Old English "brycg" meaning "bridge"), indicating that some families may have taken their surname from the location where they resided.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Falcon

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

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

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

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