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

Trail, 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 Trail surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Trail in America

Trail is the 8084th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Trail surname appeared 4,101 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 Trail.

We can also compare 2010 data for Trail 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 Trail

The surname Trail is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "treil," meaning a trail or a path. This name is believed to have originated in the 12th century and was initially given as a descriptive name to someone who lived near a trail or a well-trodden path.

The earliest recorded instance of the surname Trail appears in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1202, where a person named William Trail is mentioned. In the 13th century, the name was also found in various records, including the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire in 1273, which mention a Walter Trahil.

The Trail surname is closely associated with the village of Trail, located in Derbyshire, England. This place name, first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Trailei," is derived from the Old English words "treil" and "leah," meaning a trail or path and a woodland clearing, respectively.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Trail surname was Sir Thomas Trail, a 14th-century English knight who served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War. He was born around 1300 and died in 1349.

Another notable figure was Walter Trail (c. 1572-1636), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Master of University College, Oxford, from 1621 until his death.

In the 17th century, the Trail surname gained prominence with the birth of Robert Trail (1642-1716), a Scottish minister and theologian. He was a notable figure in the Church of Scotland and played a significant role in the Covenanting movement.

The name also has connections to the United States, with Benjamin Trail (1779-1859) being one of the earliest recorded bearers of the surname in America. He was a pioneer and early settler in Ohio.

Another prominent American with the Trail surname was David Trail (1806-1890), a politician and lawyer from Virginia who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1837 to 1843.

These examples demonstrate the long and diverse history of the Trail surname, which has its roots in the English countryside and has since spread to various parts of the world, with notable individuals bearing this name contributing to various fields throughout history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Trail

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

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

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

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