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

Reichel, 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 Reichel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Reichel in America

Reichel is the 11736th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Reichel surname appeared 2,670 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 Reichel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Reichel 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 Reichel

The surname Reichel originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the German word "reich," meaning rich or wealthy, and likely referred to someone who was prosperous or lived in a prosperous region. The name was initially found in the southern regions of Germany, particularly in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Reichel appears in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Petri Erfordensis, a 12th-century manuscript from the Erfurt region of Thuringia, Germany. This document mentions a "Reicherus de Scongerode" in 1155, indicating the presence of the surname or a variant thereof in that area during that time period.

Over the centuries, the surname Reichel has been found in various historical records and documents across Germany. For example, in the late 16th century, Johannes Reichel was a Protestant theologian and professor at the University of Tübingen. He was born in 1554 and died in 1608.

Another notable person with the surname Reichel was Johann Gottfried Reichel, a German composer and organist from the 18th century. He was born in 1727 in Gotha, Thuringia, and is known for his works in the Baroque style.

In the 19th century, Carl Reichel was a prominent German-American architect who designed several notable buildings in the United States, including the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. He was born in 1833 in Tharand, Saxony, and emigrated to the United States in the 1850s.

The surname Reichel has also been associated with places in Germany, such as the town of Reichelsheim in Hesse, which likely derived its name from the presence of people with the surname Reichel in the area.

Another individual worth mentioning is Friedrich Reichel, a German mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1796 to 1876. He made significant contributions to the study of comets and asteroids, and a crater on the Moon is named after him.

While the surname Reichel has its roots in Germany, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to migration and immigration. However, its origins and historical significance remain firmly grounded in the regions of southern and central Germany, where it first emerged and flourished.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Reichel

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

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

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

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