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

Runkle, 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 Runkle surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Runkle in America

Runkle is the 10686th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Runkle surname appeared 2,991 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 Runkle.

We can also compare 2010 data for Runkle 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 Runkle

The surname Runkle originated in the German region of Hesse in the 13th century. It is derived from the Old German word "runce," meaning a small stream or brook. This suggests that the name likely referred to someone who lived near a small body of water or a particular stream.

In the early records, the name appears with various spellings such as Runkel, Runckel, and Runckle. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Würzburg archives from 1290, where a certain Hermann Runckel is mentioned as a resident of the city.

The Runkle name can also be traced back to the town of Runkel, located in the Lahn Valley of Hesse. This town was first documented in a 1231 record, and it's believed that the surname may have originated from this place name.

In the 14th century, the name appears in the historic Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of diplomatic documents from Saxony. A man named Conradus Runkel is mentioned in an entry from 1378.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the Runkle name is Johann Runkle, a merchant from Nuremberg who lived in the late 15th century. Another notable figure was Christoph Runkle, a German theologian and reformer born in 1522 in Stettin, Pomerania (now Szczecin, Poland).

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Runkle name spread across various regions of Germany, with families settling in areas such as Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg. In the 18th century, some Runkle families emigrated to North America, settling in Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States.

A prominent American bearer of the Runkle name was John Daniel Runkle, born in 1822 in Root, Montgomery County, New York. He was a mathematician, educator, and the second president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1870 to 1878.

Another notable individual was Bertha Runkle, an American activist born in 1879 in Waterloo, Indiana. She was a prominent figure in the women's suffrage movement and worked alongside Susan B. Anthony and Ida B. Wells.

In the 19th century, the Runkle surname can be found in various historical records, including census records and military records from the American Civil War. Some examples include Jacob Runkle, born in 1832 in Pennsylvania, who served as a captain in the Union Army, and William Runkle, born in 1838 in Ohio, who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Runkle

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

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

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

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