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

Fogal, 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 Fogal surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fogal in America

Fogal is the 33121st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fogal surname appeared 691 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 Fogal.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fogal 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 Fogal

The surname Fogal is believed to have originated in the region of Silesia, which is now part of modern-day Poland and the Czech Republic. It is thought to date back to the early 13th century, during the period of German colonization and settlement in this area.

The name Fogal is derived from the Old German word "fogel," meaning "bird." It is likely that the name was originally an occupational surname given to someone who worked with birds, such as a bird catcher or a falconer.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fogal can be found in the Liber Fundationis Claustrorum, a manuscript from the late 13th century that documents the founding of monasteries in Silesia. The name appears in this text as "Vogel," which was a common spelling variant at the time.

In the 14th century, the name Fogal began to appear in various records and documents from the region. One notable example is Johannes Fogal, a merchant and landowner who lived in the town of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) in the late 1300s.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Fogal name spread to other parts of Central Europe, including present-day Germany and Austria. Notable individuals from this period include Heinrich Fogal (1541-1612), a Lutheran theologian and author from Saxony, and Anna Fogal (1589-1655), a Protestant martyr who was executed for her religious beliefs in Vienna.

Another significant figure with the Fogal surname was Johann Gottfried Fogal (1705-1782), a German composer and organist who was born in Saxony and spent much of his career in Berlin. His works, which included numerous cantatas and church music, were highly regarded during his lifetime.

In the 19th century, the Fogal name began to appear in various parts of the United States, likely due to immigration from German-speaking regions of Europe. One notable American with this surname was Samuel Fogal (1825-1892), a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg.

While the surname Fogal is not as common today as it once was, it remains a part of the rich cultural heritage of Central Europe and serves as a reminder of the region's diverse linguistic and historical influences.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fogal

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Fogal, 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!