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

Nordahl, 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 Nordahl surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nordahl in America

Nordahl is the 33499th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nordahl surname appeared 681 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Nordahl.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nordahl 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 Nordahl

The surname Nordahl is of Scandinavian origin, specifically from Norway. It dates back to the Viking era, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD. The name is believed to be derived from the Old Norse words "norðr" meaning north and "dalr" meaning valley, essentially translating to "northern valley."

This connection to geographic features was common in the naming practices of ancient Scandinavian cultures. Nordahl likely originated as a descriptive name, referring to a person's place of residence or origin in a northern valley region. It may have been used to distinguish between individuals or families living in different valleys.

The earliest known references to the Nordahl surname can be traced back to Norwegian census records and land registry documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period, the spelling variations included "Norddahl," "Nordaahl," and "Nordhall." These variations reflect the linguistic evolution of the name over time and across different regions.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the Nordahl surname was Hans Nordahl, a Norwegian farmer who lived in the late 16th century in the Gudbrandsdalen valley region of central Norway. Another notable figure was Peder Nordahl, a Norwegian-Danish explorer and whaler who participated in several expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic regions in the late 17th century.

In the 19th century, a prominent figure bearing this surname was Baltazar Mathias Keilhau Nordahl, a Norwegian judge and politician who served as the County Governor of Nordland county from 1840 to 1858. His son, Jonas Bastian Nordahl, was a renowned Norwegian poet and playwright born in 1836.

Another notable Nordahl was Andreas Nordahl, a Norwegian-American author and journalist who emigrated to the United States in the late 19th century. He was born in 1865 and became a prominent figure in the Norwegian-American community, publishing several books and articles about Norwegian culture and history.

While the Nordahl surname is primarily associated with Norway and its Scandinavian roots, it has also been found in other parts of the world due to migration and intermarriage over the centuries. However, its historical origins can be traced back to the northern valleys of ancient Norway, where it likely originated as a descriptive name reflecting the geographic location of its earliest bearers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nordahl

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

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

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

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