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

Knicely, 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 Knicely surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Knicely in America

Knicely is the 24982nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Knicely surname appeared 995 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 Knicely.

We can also compare 2010 data for Knicely 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 Knicely

The surname Knicely originated in Germany and is a locational name derived from the town of Knicklingen or Knicklinger in Bavaria. The name is thought to have emerged around the 12th or 13th century during the Middle Ages.

One of the earliest recorded examples of the Knicely surname can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, where a Henricus de Knicklingen is mentioned in 1280. The name likely evolved from the place name Knicklingen or Knicklinger over time through various spellings like Knickele, Knickel, and Knickli.

In the 16th century, there are records of a Johannes Knickel from the town of Nuremberg, which was a prominent city in the Holy Roman Empire during that time. The name Knickel is believed to be an earlier variant of the modern Knicely spelling.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Knicely surname in the United States was Johann Michael Knicely, who immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. He was born around 1710 and settled in Lancaster County, where many German immigrants established communities.

Another notable figure with the Knicely surname was John Knicely, an American soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1753 in Virginia and served in the Continental Army under General George Washington.

In the 19th century, there was a Peter Knicely, born in 1825 in Pennsylvania, who became a prominent farmer and landowner in Ohio. His son, William H. Knicely, born in 1860, was a respected educator and school administrator in the same state.

One of the most renowned individuals with the Knicely surname was William Albert Knicely, a distinguished American chemist and educator. He was born in 1886 in West Virginia and made significant contributions to the field of organic chemistry through his research and teaching at various universities.

The Knicely surname has its roots in the German town of Knicklingen or Knicklinger, likely emerging in the 12th or 13th century. Over the centuries, the name has been recorded in various historical documents and carried by notable individuals across different parts of Europe and North America.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Knicely

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

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

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

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