2000
#1,198
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 26,744
First available Census row
Per 100,000 9.91
Uncommon Last name
Muller
An occupational surname referring to a miller or grain grinder.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 30,303 Americans carry the last name Muller. That puts it at #1,306 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 8.84 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 11,311 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Muller surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Muller with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
30K
1 in 11,311
Census rank
#1,306
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
8.8
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
26K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 26,426 bearers of the surname Muller in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 8.84 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 1306th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Muller, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (3.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Muller
The surname "Muller" is of German origin and dates back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "Müller," which means "miller" in English, referring to a person who operated a mill for grinding grain into flour.
The name first appeared in various regions of Germany, including Bavaria, Saxony, and the Rhineland, where the milling profession was prevalent. It is believed that the name originated during the 12th or 13th century, when surnames began to be adopted across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name "Muller" can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of historical documents from the German state of Saxony, dated around 1250. The name is also mentioned in several other medieval records, such as the Biberacher Jahrbüchern, a chronicle from the city of Biberach in southern Germany, dating back to the 14th century.
Notable individuals bearing the surname "Muller" throughout history include Johannes Muller (1436-1476), a German astronomer and mathematician known as Regiomontanus; Johann Muller (1644-1732), a German cartographer and engraver who produced the first map of Russia; and Friedrich Muller (1834-1898), a German linguist and ethnographer who studied the languages and cultures of the Pacific Northwest.
Another famous bearer of the name was Paul Hermann Muller (1899-1965), a Swiss chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).
In the Netherlands, the name "Muller" is often associated with the city of Leiden, where many millers were active in the 16th and 17th centuries. One notable example is Gerrit Muller (1628-1718), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his genre scenes and portraits.
The name "Muller" has also been found in various place names throughout Germany, such as Mullersgrund, a village in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and Mullerthal, a region in Luxembourg known for its natural rock formations and hiking trails.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Muller
Among Census respondents with the surname Muller, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (3.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Muller bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Muller surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.1% · 22,215
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 2,018
- Two or more races3.5% · 937
- Black or African American3.0% · 785
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 390
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 81
Timeline
Historical Census data for Muller
Muller appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#1,293
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 27,216
+472 bearers (+1.8%)
Per 100,000 9.23
Rank movement Down 95 places
2020
#1,306
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 26,426
-790 bearers (-2.9%)
Per 100,000 8.84
Rank movement Down 13 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #1,198 | 26,744 | 9.91 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #1,293 | 27,216 | 9.23 | +472 bearers (+1.8%) | Down 95 places |
| 2020 | #1,306 | 26,426 | 8.84 | -790 bearers (-2.9%) | Down 13 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Muller surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #1,293 | #1,306 | -1.0% |
| Count | 27,216 | 26,426 | -2.9% |
| Per 100K | 9.23 | 8.84 | -4.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Muller bearers went from 27,216 to 26,426 (-2.9% change). The surname moved down 13 positions in the national ranking, going from #1,293 to #1,306.
FAQ
Muller surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Muller?
Name Census estimates that about 30,303 living Americans carry the surname Muller. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 11,311 residents.
How common is Muller?
Muller ranks #1,306 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 8.84 per 100,000 residents, which is about 9 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 26,426 people with the surname Muller. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (30,303), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 8.84 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 8.84 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 9 of them to have the surname Muller.
Has Muller become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Muller went from 27,216 recorded bearers to 26,426. That is a decrease of 790 (-2.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #1,293 to #1,306.
What does the Census say about the background of Muller?
Among Census respondents with the surname Muller, the largest self-reported group is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Muller in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (22,215 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Muller appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (84.1%), Hispanic (7.6%), Two or More Races (3.5%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Muller (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Muller mean?
An occupational surname referring to a miller or grain grinder. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Muller (8.84 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Muller?
See how common the surname Muller is on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.