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

Percival, 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 Percival surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Percival in America

Percival is the 9767th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Percival surname appeared 3,317 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 Percival.

We can also compare 2010 data for Percival 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 Percival

The surname Percival is of Norman French origin, derived from the Old French personal name "Perceval". This name is believed to have originated from the Breton words "perch", meaning "breach" or "valley", and "aval", meaning "downward".

Percival was a popular name among the Normans, who introduced it to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The earliest recorded instance of the surname Percival can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Percivale".

During the Middle Ages, the Percival surname was concentrated in the counties of Worcestershire and Somerset in England. The name also spread to other parts of the British Isles, including Scotland and Ireland.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Percival surname was Sir Percival de Somery, a Norman knight who lived in the 12th century. He was granted lands in Worcestershire and is mentioned in various records from that time.

Another notable figure was Sir Percival Willoughby, born around 1450, who served as a member of parliament for Nottinghamshire in England during the Wars of the Roses.

In literature, the name Percival is associated with the Arthurian legend of Sir Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table. This character first appeared in the 12th-century French romance "Perceval, the Story of the Grail" by Chrétien de Troyes.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Percival surname was found among English settlers in the American colonies. One notable individual was John Percival, born in 1603 in England, who was one of the founders of Saybrook Colony in Connecticut.

Another significant bearer of the Percival surname was James Gates Percival (1795-1856), an American scholar, poet, and geologist. He was born in Connecticut and is considered one of the most prominent American poets of the early 19th century.

Throughout history, the Percival surname has been subject to various spelling variations, including Percivall, Percivale, and Persivall, reflecting the influence of regional dialects and scribal errors in record-keeping.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Percival

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

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

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

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