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

Muller, 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 Muller surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Muller in America

Muller is the 1293rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Muller surname appeared 27,216 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 9 people would have the surname Muller.

We can also compare 2010 data for Muller 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 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the earliest recorded instances of the name "Muller" can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of historical documents from the German state of Saxony, dated around 1250.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.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Muller

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

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

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

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