Thiele last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Thiele

A German occupational surname referring to a plank maker or carpenter.

Thiele, 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 Thiele surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Thiele in America

Thiele is the 7437th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Thiele surname appeared 4,478 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Thiele.

We can also compare 2010 data for Thiele 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 7437 6955 6.70%
Count 4,478 4,447 0.69%
Proportion per 100k 1.52 1.65 -8.20%

The history of the last name Thiele

The surname Thiele is of German origin, originating in the 16th century. It is derived from the German word "Thiele," which means "tile" or "brick." This suggests that the name may have been given as an occupational surname to someone who worked as a tiler or bricklayer.

The name Thiele is believed to have originated in the northern regions of Germany, particularly in areas like Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, where the use of tiles and bricks in construction was common. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the 16th and 17th centuries in various German parish records and tax rolls.

One notable historical reference to the name Thiele can be found in the "Codex Diplomaticus Brandenburgensis," a collection of historical documents from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which mentions a certain "Henning Thiele" in the year 1492.

In the 17th century, the name Thiele appeared in the "Kirchenbücher" (church books) of various German regions, such as Johann Thiele, born in 1638 in Altona, and Catharina Thiele, born in 1671 in Mecklenburg.

Among the notable individuals bearing the surname Thiele throughout history are:

  1. Johann Thiele (1646-1724), a German composer and organist.
  2. Eduard Thiele (1812-1895), a German astronomer and mathematician.
  3. Theodor Thiele (1854-1934), a Norwegian mathematician and statistician.
  4. Wilhelm Thiele (1865-1945), a German architect and urban planner.
  5. Rolf Thiele (1918-1994), a German film director and screenwriter.

The name Thiele has also been associated with various place names in Germany, such as Thielau, a village in Saxony, and Thielen, a municipality in North Rhine-Westphalia. These place names may have derived from the same root as the surname, suggesting a connection between the name and specific geographical locations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Thiele

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

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 Thiele was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 93.84% 4,202
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.47% 21
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 1.03% 46
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.83% 37
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.50% 67
Hispanic Origin 2.34% 105

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 Thiele has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 93.84% 95.93% -2.20%
Black 0.47% 0.25% 61.11%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.03% 0.45% 78.38%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.83% 0.74% 11.46%
Two or More Races 1.50% 1.42% 5.48%
Hispanic 2.34% 1.21% 63.66%

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

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

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"Thiele last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/thiele-surname-popularity/.

"Thiele last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/thiele-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Thiele last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/thiele-surname-popularity/.

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