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

Fennel, 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 Fennel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fennel in America

Fennel is the 31994th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fennel surname appeared 721 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Fennel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fennel 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 Fennel

The surname Fennel is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "fenol" or "fenyl," meaning "fennel," the aromatic herb. This surname is believed to have emerged in the 12th or 13th century as an occupational name for someone who cultivated or traded in fennel.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Fennel can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire from 1199, where a person named William Fennel is mentioned. The Fennel surname also appears in the Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire from 1273, indicating its presence across various regions of England during the Middle Ages.

In the 14th century, the Fennel surname was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1327, where a John Fennel is listed. The Fennels were particularly concentrated in the southern counties of England, such as Sussex, Hampshire, and Dorset, during this period.

Notably, the Fennel surname is connected to several place names in England, including Fennel Street in London and Fennel's Grove in Buckinghamshire. These place names likely derived from individuals bearing the Fennel surname who resided or owned land in those areas.

Among the notable individuals with the Fennel surname throughout history are:

1. Richard Fennel (c. 1450 - c. 1520), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
2. John Fennel (c. 1570 - 1642), an English soldier and colonist who was among the early settlers of Jamestown, Virginia.
3. Thomas Fennel (1603 - 1678), an English author and playwright who wrote the tragedy "The Woman's Prize, or the Tamer Tamed," a sequel to Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew."
4. William Fennel (1717 - 1794), a British Army officer who served during the American Revolutionary War and was captured at the Siege of Yorktown.
5. Mary Fennel (1856 - 1929), a British educator and co-founder of Fennel House School in Berkshire, which operated from 1889 to 1920.

The Fennel surname has a rich history rooted in the English language and culture, reflecting the significance of the fennel herb in various aspects of life, from occupation to place names and notable individuals who carried this distinctive surname through the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fennel

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!