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

Quill, 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 Quill surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Quill in America

Quill is the 18337th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Quill surname appeared 1,511 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 Quill.

We can also compare 2010 data for Quill 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 Quill

The surname Quill is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "cyl" or "cyll," which meant "feather" or "quill." The name likely originated in the Middle Ages, when it was adopted as a surname by those who worked with quills or feathers, such as scribes, writers, or feather merchants.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Quill can be found in various medieval records, including the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, which list a John Quyll from Oxfordshire. The name also appears in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire in 1212, where a Robert Quill is mentioned.

In the 14th century, the surname Quill was particularly prevalent in the counties of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Warwickshire. Some notable examples from this period include John Quyll, a landowner in Oxfordshire recorded in the Feet of Fines in 1348, and William Quill, a resident of Warwickshire mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of 1332.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the spelling of the surname varied, with forms such as Quill, Quyll, and Quile appearing in various records. One notable figure from this time was Thomas Quill, a merchant from London who lived in the early 17th century and was involved in the colonial trade with Virginia.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the surname Quill continued to be found throughout England, with concentrations in the Midlands and the South East. One prominent individual was James Quill (1716-1805), a notable architect from Somerset who designed several churches and country houses in the region.

Another notable bearer of the Quill surname was Sir Michael Quill (1805-1876), a British diplomat and politician who served as the Governor of the Ionian Islands from 1859 to 1864. He was also a Member of Parliament for Barnstaple from 1852 to 1857.

In the literary world, one of the most famous individuals with the surname Quill was Stephen Quill (1854-1920), an Irish author and poet who wrote several volumes of verse and plays in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While the surname Quill is not as common today as it once was, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of English surnames, with its origins rooted in the medieval crafts of writing and feather-working.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Quill

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!