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

Fogel, 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 Fogel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fogel in America

Fogel is the 6784th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fogel surname appeared 4,973 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 Fogel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fogel 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 Fogel

The surname FOGEL originated in the German regions of central Europe during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word 'Vogel', meaning 'bird'. This name likely referred to someone who kept birds or lived near an area populated by many birds.

The earliest recorded spelling of the name was 'Vogel' in the 13th century. As the name spread across German-speaking areas, various spellings emerged, such as Fogel, Fögel, and Vogl. These variations were often due to regional dialects and the personal preferences of scribes who recorded the name.

One of the earliest known references to the name Fogel can be found in the Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch, a German legal dictionary from the 16th century. This suggests that individuals with this surname may have held legal or administrative positions during that time period.

In the 17th century, the name Fogel appeared in the records of the town of Augsburg, in present-day Bavaria, Germany. Augsburg was a prominent city during the Renaissance and Reformation, and it is possible that Fogels played a role in the cultural and religious developments of the era.

Notable individuals with the surname Fogel include:

1. Johann Fogel (1588-1638), a German composer and organist from Nuremberg.
2. Anna Fogel (1634-1698), a German painter known for her still-life works.
3. Franz Fogel (1718-1794), an Austrian architect who designed several churches and palaces in Vienna.
4. Jakob Fogel (1801-1877), a German-American farmer and politician who served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature.
5. Daniel Fogel (1858-1937), a Russian-American writer and journalist who documented the experiences of Jewish immigrants in the United States.

Over the centuries, the surname Fogel has also been associated with various place names, such as Vogelsang (meaning 'bird's song') and Vogelherd (meaning 'bird's hearth'), reflecting the name's origins and its connection to natural imagery.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fogel

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

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

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

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