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

Nilles, 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 Nilles surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nilles in America

Nilles is the 16824th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nilles surname appeared 1,697 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 Nilles.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nilles 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 Nilles

The surname Nilles is believed to have originated in Germany, likely in the early to mid-16th century. It is derived from the German word "Nill" or "Nille," which means "valley" or "hollow." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to identify someone who lived in or near a valley or hollow area.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nilles can be found in the baptismal records of St. Lambertus Church in Erkelenz, Germany, dating back to 1566. In this record, a child named Johan Nilles is listed, indicating that the surname was already in use by that time.

The name Nilles also appears in various other historical documents from the region, including tax records and land registries. For example, in the 1632 Schatzbuch (tax book) of the Duchy of Jülich, a Johann Nilles is listed as a resident of the village of Lich.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Nilles spread to other parts of Germany and neighboring regions. One notable individual bearing this surname was Johann Nilles (1670-1743), a German Catholic priest and theologian from Trier. He authored several works on religious subjects and was known for his defense of Catholic doctrine.

Another individual of note was Johann Nepomuk Nilles (1825-1892), a German Catholic priest and scholar born in Obbicht, Prussia (now part of the Netherlands). He was a renowned expert on the liturgy and published numerous works on the subject, including "Kalendarium Manuale Utriusque Ecclesiae Orientalis et Occidentalis" (Manual Calendar of the Eastern and Western Churches).

In the 19th century, the Nilles surname also appeared in the United States, likely carried by German immigrants. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname in America was Johann Nilles (1810-1884), who was born in Obermaubach, Prussia, and immigrated to Wisconsin in the 1850s.

Other notable individuals with the surname Nilles include Wilhelm Nilles (1881-1957), a German Catholic priest and historian who served as a professor at the University of Münster, and Nikolaus Nilles (1862-1948), a German Catholic priest and missionary who worked in China and Japan.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nilles

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

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

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

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