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

Felty, 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 Felty surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Felty in America

Felty is the 10395th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Felty surname appeared 3,100 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 Felty.

We can also compare 2010 data for Felty 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 Felty

The surname Felty is believed to have originated in Germany. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "felt," meaning "field" or "open land." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or worked on an open field or pasture.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the town records of Heidelberg, Germany, where a certain Hans Felty is mentioned in the year 1437. This indicates that the name was already well-established in the region by the 15th century.

In England, the earliest known bearer of the name was John Felty, who was born in the village of Stanstead Abbots, Hertfordshire, in 1562. His descendants can be traced through parish records and census documents in the subsequent centuries.

The Felty name also has a long history in the United States, where it was brought by German and English immigrants in the 17th and 18th centuries. One notable early American with this surname was Jacob Felty, a farmer and Revolutionary War veteran who was born in Pennsylvania in 1756.

Another significant figure was Samuel Felty, a 19th-century politician and lawyer from Ohio. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849 and was born in 1803.

In the literary world, one cannot overlook the contributions of Edwin Hubbell Chapin Felty, an American author and playwright who lived from 1866 to 1936. He is best known for his work "The Trapper's Bride," published in 1909.

The Felty name has also been associated with various places throughout history. For instance, the village of Felty in Alsace, France, was originally known as "Feltheim" in the 12th century, likely deriving its name from the same root as the surname.

Another notable individual was Johann Felty, a German composer and organist who was born in 1677 and made significant contributions to the development of Baroque music in his lifetime.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Felty

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

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

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

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