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

Feller, 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 Feller surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Feller in America

Feller is the 4963rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Feller surname appeared 7,085 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 Feller.

We can also compare 2010 data for Feller 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 Feller

The surname Feller is of German origin, derived from the German word "Feller," meaning "a worker in animal skins or furs." The name likely emerged in the Middle Ages, when the trade of working with animal hides was prevalent in various parts of Germany.

The earliest known record of the surname Feller dates back to the 13th century, appearing in historical documents from the regions of Bavaria and Saxony. The name was also found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of medieval charters and documents from Saxony, from as early as 1275.

In the 14th century, the name Feller appeared in the Bürgerverzeichnis, or citizen registers, of several German cities, including Cologne, Nuremberg, and Frankfurt. This suggests that individuals with this surname were established citizens and tradesmen in these urban centers during that time.

One notable figure bearing the surname Feller was Johann Feller, a German theologian and author who lived from 1638 to 1691. His most famous work, "Monumenta Varia Inedita," was a collection of unpublished historical documents and manuscripts.

Another prominent individual with the surname Feller was Johann Gottlieb Feller, a Swiss writer and historian who lived from 1735 to 1801. He is best known for his work "Dictionnaire Historique," a biographical dictionary that covered notable figures from ancient times to the 18th century.

In the 19th century, the surname Feller was associated with several famous individuals, including Friedrich Ernst Feller, a German mathematician and statistician who lived from 1801 to 1869. He made significant contributions to the fields of probability theory and statistics.

Another notable figure was Wilhelm Feller, a Croatian-American mathematician who lived from 1906 to 1970. He was a pioneer in the field of probability theory and authored the influential textbook "An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications."

The surname Feller has also been found in various place names throughout Germany, such as Fellerdorf, a village in Saxony-Anhalt, and Fellerbach, a small town in Bavaria. These place names likely originated from individuals bearing the Feller surname who settled in those areas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Feller

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

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

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

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