How common is the surname Merkel?

6,991 people in the United States had the surname Merkel in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 44,163 Americans. It ranked 5,022nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Merkel?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Merkel identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Merkel?

Una Merkel, American actress (1903–1986), followed by Max Merkel.

Where is the surname Merkel most common?

Wikidata records people named Merkel in the United States, Austria and the Russian Empire.

How do you pronounce Merkel?

Merkel is /ˈmɛɹ.kəl/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Merkel getting more or less common?

More common. 6,577 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,991 in 2010, up 6.3%.

The surname Merkel

A German surname, carried by 6,991 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈmɛɹ.kəl/ 2 syllables Soundex M624

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Merkel is more common than 96.9% of them.

Origin

German origin

Borrowed from German Merkel.

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 6,991 people named Merkel in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 44,163 Americans. That is up 6.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 6,577.

#5,022

rank among US surnames

6,991

people in 2010

2.4

per 100,000 Americans

+6.3%

change since 2000 (was #4,909)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#5,013	Macon	7,008	44,056
#5,014	Durden	7,007	44,062
#5,015	Ostrowski	7,005	44,075
#5,016	Bozeman	7,004	44,081
#5,017	Bernardo	7,003	44,088
#5,018	Berkowitz	7,000	44,107
#5,020	Arango	6,998	44,119

Who is named Merkel

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

95% of people named Merkel identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.5% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
Two or more races 1.5%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Merkels

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Una Merkel
American actress (1903–1986)
Max Merkel
Austrian football player and manager (1918–2006)
Garlieb Merkel
Baltic German writer and publicist (1769-1850)
Fred Merkel
American motorcycle racer, born 1962

Notable Merkels come mostly from the United States (2), Austria (1) and the Russian Empire (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Merkel

Merkel has the Soundex code M624, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M624.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Merkel come from?: Borrowed from German Merkel.
How common is the surname Merkel?: 6,991 people in the United States had the surname Merkel in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 44,163 Americans. It ranked 5,022nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Merkel?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Merkel identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Merkel?: Una Merkel, American actress (1903–1986), followed by Max Merkel.
Where is the surname Merkel most common?: Wikidata records people named Merkel in the United States, Austria and the Russian Empire.
How do you pronounce Merkel?: Merkel is /ˈmɛɹ.kəl/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Merkel getting more or less common?: More common. 6,577 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,991 in 2010, up 6.3%.