How common is the surname Vail?

10,554 people in the United States had the surname Vail in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 29,254 Americans. It ranked 3,385th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Vail?

In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Vail identified as white (not Hispanic), and 5.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Vail?

Alfred Vail, American inventor (1807–1859), followed by Anna Murray Vail.

Where is the surname Vail most common?

Wikidata records people named Vail in the United States.

Is the surname Vail getting more or less common?

More common. 10,042 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 10,554 in 2010, up 5.1%.

The surname Vail

A surname, carried by 10,554 people in the United States.

Pronounced /veɪl/ 1 syllable Soundex V400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Vail is more common than 97.9% of them.

Origin

The town in Colorado was named after Vail Pass, which in turn was named after highway engineer Charles Vail. The surname likely comes from the obsolete term vail, meaning "submission", of Anglo-Norman origin.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 10,554 people named Vail in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 29,254 Americans. That is up 5.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 10,042.

#3,385

rank among US surnames

10,554

people in 2010

3.6

per 100,000 Americans

+5.1%

change since 2000 (was #3,270)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,376	Stepp	10,571	29,207
#3,377	Florez	10,570	29,210
#3,378	Terrazas	10,569	29,212
#3,379	Ahn	10,567	29,218
#3,380	McIntire	10,566	29,221
#3,381	Pullen	10,565	29,223
#3,382	Phelan	10,562	29,232

Who is named Vail

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

86% of people named Vail identified as white (not Hispanic), 5.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 4.9% as Black (not Hispanic).

White (not Hispanic) 86%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 5.2%
Black (not Hispanic) 4.9%
Two or more races 2.0%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Vails

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Alfred Vail
American inventor (1807–1859)
Anna Murray Vail
American botanist, botanical collector, librarian and editor (1863-1955)
Tobi Vail
American musician, born 1969

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Vail

Vail has the Soundex code V400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code V400.

Questions

Where does the surname Vail come from?: The town in Colorado was named after Vail Pass, which in turn was named after highway engineer Charles Vail. The surname likely comes from the obsolete term vail, meaning "submission", of Anglo-Norman origin.
How common is the surname Vail?: 10,554 people in the United States had the surname Vail in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 29,254 Americans. It ranked 3,385th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Vail?: In the 2010 Census, 86% of people named Vail identified as white (not Hispanic), and 5.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Vail?: Alfred Vail, American inventor (1807–1859), followed by Anna Murray Vail.
Where is the surname Vail most common?: Wikidata records people named Vail in the United States.
How do you pronounce Vail?: Vail is /veɪl/, one syllable.
Is the surname Vail getting more or less common?: More common. 10,042 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 10,554 in 2010, up 5.1%.