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

Reil, 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 Reil surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Reil in America

Reil is the 21034th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Reil surname appeared 1,250 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 Reil.

We can also compare 2010 data for Reil 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 Reil

The surname REIL is believed to have originated in Germany, likely during the Middle Ages. It is thought to be derived from the Old German word "reile," which referred to a boundary or border. This suggests that the name may have initially been used to identify someone who lived near a boundary or border region.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname REIL can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of historical documents from the 9th century. This document mentions an individual named Reilo, which is likely an early variant spelling of the surname.

In the 12th century, records from the town of Regensburg in Bavaria mention a family with the surname REIL. This suggests that the name may have been particularly prevalent in this region of Germany during the medieval period.

During the 13th century, a notable individual named Heinrich REIL was a prominent scholar and theologian at the University of Paris. He is believed to have been born in the town of Reil, near Trier, in the late 12th century.

In the 16th century, a man named Johann REIL was a respected physician and anatomist who made important contributions to the study of the nervous system. He was born in Rhauden, Silesia (now part of Poland), in 1759 and died in 1813.

Another significant figure with the surname REIL was the German historian and archivist Friedrich REIL, who lived from 1773 to 1843. He was known for his extensive research on the history of the Rhineland region and published several books on the subject.

In the 19th century, a German artist named Wilhelm REIL gained recognition for his landscape paintings and portraits. He was born in Düsseldorf in 1823 and died in 1897.

One of the more notable individuals with the surname REIL in recent history was the German physicist and Nobel laureate Wilhelm Conrad REIL. He was born in Erlangen in 1895 and made significant contributions to the field of quantum mechanics, winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Reil

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

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

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

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