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

Sturgill, 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 Sturgill surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sturgill in America

Sturgill is the 4196th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sturgill surname appeared 8,444 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Sturgill.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sturgill 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 Sturgill

The surname Sturgill is believed to have originated in Germany, possibly in the region of Bavaria or Saxony, during the Middle Ages. It is thought to be derived from the Old German words "stur" meaning "sturdy" or "strong" and "gill" meaning a ravine or narrow valley, suggesting that the name may have referred to a person who lived near a sturdy or strong ravine.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae, a collection of medieval documents from Saxony, where a person named Sturgillus is mentioned in a charter dated 1185. This suggests that the name was in use in that region at least as early as the 12th century.

In the 13th century, the name appears in various forms, such as Sturgil, Sturgill, and Sturghyll, in various German records and chronicles. One notable example is the mention of a Henricus Sturgill in the Annales Bambergenses, a chronicle from the city of Bamberg, in the year 1249.

As the name spread across Europe, it also appeared in different spellings and variations. In England, for instance, the name is recorded as Sturgill, Sturgell, and Sturgal, among others, in various parish records and tax rolls from the 16th and 17th centuries.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Sturgill was Johannes Sturgill, a German landowner and farmer who lived in the village of Rothenburg in the late 15th century. Another notable figure was Hans Sturgill, a German soldier who fought in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and is mentioned in several military records from that period.

In the United States, the name Sturgill can be traced back to the 18th century, with early settlers likely arriving from Germany or England. One of the first recorded instances is that of John Sturgill, who was born in Virginia in 1742 and served in the American Revolutionary War.

Another prominent figure was William Sturgill (1782-1865), a pioneer and frontiersman who settled in Kentucky and played a role in the early exploration and settlement of the region. His descendants, including his son James Sturgill (1819-1901), continued to be influential in the area.

In more recent history, the surname Sturgill has been associated with several notable individuals, such as the American country music singer and songwriter Sturgill Simpson, born in 1978, and the American politician and lawyer James Sturgill, who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in the early 20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sturgill

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

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

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

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