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

Leffel, 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 Leffel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Leffel in America

Leffel is the 16494th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Leffel surname appeared 1,742 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 Leffel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Leffel 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 Leffel

The surname Leffel has its origins in France, with records dating back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to be derived from the Old French word "leffel," which means a spoon or ladle. The earliest known spelling of the name was "Leffel" in the 12th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Leffel name appears in the Cartulaire de Notre-Dame de Paris, a collection of charters and documents from the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, dating back to the 13th century. The name is mentioned in a document from 1254, referring to a person named Guillaume Leffel.

The Leffel name is also found in the Livre des Bourgeois de Gand (Book of Citizens of Ghent), a medieval manuscript from the 14th century that recorded the names of citizens in the city of Ghent, Belgium. An entry from 1349 lists a certain Jehan Leffel as a resident of the city.

During the 16th century, the name Leffel began to spread across Europe, with records showing individuals bearing the name in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. One notable figure from this period was Hans Leffel (1510-1572), a German goldsmith and engraver who worked in Nuremberg.

In the 17th century, the Leffel name made its way to England, possibly through Huguenot refugees fleeing persecution in France. The earliest record of the name in England dates back to 1632, with the baptism of a child named Mary Leffel in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen in London.

Another notable figure with the Leffel surname was Johann Leffel (1677-1731), a German composer and organist who lived in Leipzig. He was a contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach and contributed to the development of the Baroque music style.

As the centuries passed, the Leffel name continued to spread across Europe and eventually to other parts of the world, including North America. One prominent individual with this surname was James Leffel (1834-1910), an American engineer and industrialist who founded the James Leffel & Co. in Springfield, Ohio, which manufactured water turbines and other hydraulic machinery.

Other notable individuals with the Leffel surname include Wilhelm Leffel (1841-1911), a German architect and urban planner who designed buildings in cities such as Berlin and Hamburg, and Eugène Leffel (1879-1944), a French artist and illustrator known for his works depicting scenes from Parisian life.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Leffel

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

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

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

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