2000
#14,544
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,879
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.70
Rare Last name
Musial
A Polish surname derived from the word "muzyka" meaning "music."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 2,003 Americans carry the last name Musial. That puts it at #16,039 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.58 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 171,120 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Musial 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 Musial with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
2.0K
1 in 171,120
Census rank
#16,039
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.6
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
1.7K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,747 bearers of the surname Musial in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.58 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 16039th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Musial, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (2.2%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Musial
The surname Musial has its origins in Poland. It is a locational name derived from the Polish town of Muszyna, located in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The name is believed to have originated in the 13th century, and likely refers to a person who lived in or came from the town of Muszyna.
Early records of the name can be found in various Polish historical documents, including church records and land registers. One of the earliest known references to the name appears in a document from the Kraków Archdiocese, dated 1472, which mentions a person named Stanislaw Musial.
The name Musial is thought to have evolved from the Slavic root "mucha," which means "fly." This suggests that the original form of the name may have been "Muchala" or "Muchalik," referring to someone who had a connection with flies, perhaps a beekeeper or someone who lived near a swampy area.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Musial was particularly prominent in the regions of Lesser Poland and Silesia, where many families bearing this surname were recorded in various town and village records.
Notable individuals with the surname Musial include:
1. Stan Musial (1920-2013), a legendary American baseball player who spent his entire 22-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
2. Ignacy Musial (1835-1909), a Polish painter and artist known for his landscapes and genre scenes depicting rural life in Poland.
3. Jerzy Musial (born 1950), a Polish politician and member of the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, representing the Law and Justice party.
4. Zbigniew Musial (born 1952), a Polish historian and scholar specializing in the history of World War II and the Holocaust.
5. Tadeusz Musial (1938-2021), a Polish chess grandmaster and one of the strongest players in the world during the 1960s and 1970s.
While the name Musial may have originated in a specific Polish town, it has since spread across various parts of the world, particularly in countries with significant Polish diaspora communities.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Musial
Among Census respondents with the surname Musial, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (2.2%).
The bar chart below shows how Musial 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 Musial surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.4% · 1,631
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 60
- Two or more races2.2% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 10
- Black or African American0.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Timeline
Historical Census data for Musial
Musial 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
#15,833
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,838
-41 bearers (-2.2%)
Per 100,000 0.62
Rank movement Down 1,289 places
2020
#16,039
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,747
-91 bearers (-5.0%)
Per 100,000 0.58
Rank movement Down 206 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #14,544 | 1,879 | 0.70 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #15,833 | 1,838 | 0.62 | -41 bearers (-2.2%) | Down 1,289 places |
| 2020 | #16,039 | 1,747 | 0.58 | -91 bearers (-5.0%) | Down 206 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 Musial 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 | #15,833 | #16,039 | -1.3% |
| Count | 1,838 | 1,747 | -5.0% |
| Per 100K | 0.62 | 0.58 | -5.7% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Musial bearers went from 1,838 to 1,747 (-5.0% change). The surname moved down 206 positions in the national ranking, going from #15,833 to #16,039.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Musial
FAQ
Musial surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Musial?
Name Census estimates that about 2,003 living Americans carry the surname Musial. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 171,120 residents.
How common is Musial?
Musial ranks #16,039 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.58 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,747 people with the surname Musial. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (2,003), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.58 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.58 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Musial.
Has Musial become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Musial went from 1,838 recorded bearers to 1,747. That is a decrease of 91 (-5.0%). In the national ranking it fell from #15,833 to #16,039.
What does the Census say about the background of Musial?
Among Census respondents with the surname Musial, the largest self-reported group is White at 93.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Musial in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.4% (1,631 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Musial appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (93.4%), Hispanic (3.4%), Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Musial (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 Musial mean?
A Polish surname derived from the word "muzyka" meaning "music." 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 Musial (0.58 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 Musial?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the last name Musial on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.