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

Kahle, 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 Kahle surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kahle in America

Kahle is the 10088th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kahle surname appeared 3,195 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 Kahle.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kahle 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 Kahle

The surname Kahle is of German origin, and its earliest known usage dates back to the 16th century. It is believed to have derived from the German word "kahl," which means "bald" or "bare." This suggests that the name may have initially been a descriptive nickname for someone with a shaved head or a bald appearance.

The name Kahle was particularly prevalent in the regions of southern Germany, including Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the town records of Ulm, a city in Baden-Württemberg, where a certain Hans Kahle was mentioned in the year 1528.

In the 17th century, the Kahle surname appeared in various historical documents, such as church registers and tax records, indicating that the name had become well-established in certain German communities. For example, in 1645, a Johann Kahle was documented as a landowner in the village of Mühlhausen, located in what is now the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

As the centuries progressed, the Kahle name spread to other parts of Europe and eventually beyond. One notable figure bearing this surname was Johann Peter Kahle (1768-1823), a German Protestant theologian and Orientalist who made significant contributions to the study of Arabic and Persian languages.

Another prominent Kahle was Wilhelm Kahle (1904-1976), a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in the study of ancient Semitic languages and their influence on the texts of the Bible. He was born in Göttingen and spent much of his academic career at the University of Heidelberg.

In the 19th century, the Kahle surname also found its way to the United States through German immigration. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in America was that of Johann Kahle, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1753 from the Palatinate region of Germany.

Other notable individuals with the Kahle surname include Karl Kahle (1905-1982), a German composer and conductor who was known for his works in the field of church music, and Wilhelm Kahle (1924-2017), a German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union party, who served as the Minister of Transport in West Germany from 1976 to 1982.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kahle

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

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

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

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