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

Tall, 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 Tall surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tall in America

Tall is the 15289th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tall surname appeared 1,920 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 Tall.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tall 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 Tall

The surname "TALL" is believed to have originated in England during the Middle Ages, derived from the Old English word "tall," which means "high" or "lofty." This name was likely given as a descriptive nickname to someone who was notably tall or who lived on a hill or elevated area.

The earliest recorded instance of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Tallus," referring to a person living in the county of Lincolnshire. This suggests that the name was already in use by the late 11th century.

In the 12th century, the name is found in various forms, such as "atte Talle" and "de la Talle," which were common renderings of the name during that period. These variations reflect the Norman-French influence on English surnames after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Richard Tall, a prominent landowner in Somerset, England, who lived in the latter half of the 13th century. Another early record is of John Talle, a merchant from Bristol, who is mentioned in historical documents from the early 14th century.

During the 16th century, the surname began to take on its modern spelling of "TALL." Notable individuals from this time include William Tall, a merchant and alderman of London, born around 1520, and Thomas Tall, a poet and playwright from Norfolk, who lived from 1562 to 1625.

In the 17th century, the name continued to be found across various parts of England, with some families establishing themselves in the American colonies. One such individual was Michael Tall, who was born in Dorset, England, in 1620 and later settled in Massachusetts.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, several noteworthy figures bore the surname "TALL." These include Sir Thomas Tall (1710-1792), a British naval officer and Member of Parliament, and Jedediah Tall (1781-1858), an American politician and judge from Connecticut.

Other prominent individuals with the surname "TALL" include the English cricketer John Tall (1808-1876), who played for Nottinghamshire and was known for his exceptional height, and the British artist and illustrator Benjamin Tall (1846-1925), whose works were widely published in magazines and books of the Victorian era.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tall

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

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

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

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