How common is the surname Finkel?

3,060 people in the United States had the surname Finkel in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 100,897 Americans. It ranked 10,487th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Finkel?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Finkel identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Finkel?

Fyvush Finkel, American actor (1922-2016), followed by Irving Finkel.

Where is the surname Finkel most common?

Wikidata records people named Finkel in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Is the surname Finkel getting more or less common?

More common. 2,741 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,060 in 2010, up 12%.

The surname Finkel

A German surname, carried by 3,060 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex F524

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Finkel is more common than 93.5% of them.

Origin

German origin

Borrowed from German Finkel, from Yiddish פֿינקל (finkl, “spark”), from Middle High German vunke, from Old High German funko, from Proto-Germanic *funkô.

One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,060 people named Finkel in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 100,897 Americans. That is up 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,741.

#10,487

rank among US surnames

3,060

people in 2010

1.0

per 100,000 Americans

+11.6%

change since 2000 (was #10,696)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#10,480	Putney	3,065	100,733
#10,484	Caylor	3,064	100,766
#10,486	Caffrey	3,062	100,831
#10,487	Arens	3,060	100,897
#10,491	Garth	3,059	100,930

Who is named Finkel

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Finkel identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.2% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Finkels

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Fyvush Finkel
American actor (1922-2016)
Irving Finkel
British archaeologist, born 1951
Howard Finkel
American professional wrestling ring announcer (1950–2020)
Hank Finkel
American basketball player, born 1942
Raphael Finkel
American computer scientist, born 1951
Benjamin Finkel
American mathematician (1865–1947)

Notable Finkels come mostly from the United States (5) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Finkler

Surnames that sound like Finkel

Finkel has the Soundex code F524, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code F524.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Finkel come from?: Borrowed from German Finkel, from Yiddish פֿינקל (finkl, “spark”), from Middle High German vunke, from Old High German funko, from Proto-Germanic *funkô.
How common is the surname Finkel?: 3,060 people in the United States had the surname Finkel in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 100,897 Americans. It ranked 10,487th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Finkel?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Finkel identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Finkel?: Fyvush Finkel, American actor (1922-2016), followed by Irving Finkel.
Where is the surname Finkel most common?: Wikidata records people named Finkel in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Is the surname Finkel getting more or less common?: More common. 2,741 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,060 in 2010, up 12%.
What are other spellings of Finkel?: Finkler.