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

Fanelli, 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 Fanelli surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fanelli in America

Fanelli is the 7408th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fanelli surname appeared 4,493 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Fanelli.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fanelli 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 Fanelli

The surname Fanelli has its origins in Italy, tracing back to the 12th century. It is believed to have derived from the Latin word "fanum," meaning a temple or sacred place, indicating that the name may have been associated with someone who lived near or worked at a temple.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fanelli is found in the Codice Diplomatico Barese, a collection of medieval documents from the city of Bari in southern Italy, dating back to the 13th century. This suggests that the name may have been prominent in the region of Puglia during this time.

In the 15th century, the name appeared in various records from the city of Florence, such as the Catasto Fiorentino, a tax record from 1427. This indicates that the Fanelli family had established a presence in Tuscany by this period.

One notable individual bearing the Fanelli surname was Giovanni Battista Fanelli, an Italian painter born in 1592 in the town of Viterbo, near Rome. He was known for his religious works and frescoes adorning churches in central Italy.

Another prominent figure was Francesco Fanelli, a Neapolitan philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 17th century. He authored several works on mathematics and logic, including "Elementi Geometrici" (Geometric Elements) published in 1650.

In the 18th century, the Fanelli name gained recognition through the works of Gian Giacomo Fanelli, an Italian composer and violinist born in 1679 in Turin. He composed numerous operas and instrumental pieces, contributing to the development of Italian Baroque music.

The 19th century saw the rise of Ferdinando Fanelli, an Italian patriot and revolutionary born in 1825 in Campobasso, Molise. He played a significant role in the Italian unification movement, known as the Risorgimento, and was a close associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Another notable figure from this period was Michele Stefano Fanelli, born in 1808 in Naples. He was a prominent lawyer and politician who served as the Mayor of Naples from 1848 to 1849, during a turbulent period of political upheaval in Italy.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fanelli

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

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

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

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