Explore the Family Name Appenzeller

The meaning of Appenzeller

German: habitational name for someone from Appenzell (city or canton) in northeastern Switzerland. The placename derives ultimately from Latin abbatis cella ‘abbot’s cell’, in reference to the summer residence of the abbots of Saint Gallen.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Appenzeller in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Appenzeller saw a slight rise in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was the 36,630th most common surname in the United States, but by 2010 it had moved up to become the 36,426th. During this time period, the number of individuals with this surname also increased from 576 to 614, marking a growth rate of 6.6 percent. Despite these changes, the proportion of people with the surname Appenzeller per 100,000 population remained steady at 0.21.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#36,630	#36,426	0.56%
Count	576	614	6.6%
Proportion per 100k	0.21	0.21	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Appenzeller

When it comes to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that majority of people with the surname Appenzeller identify as White, making up 92.83 percent of the Appenzellers in 2010, down slightly from 95.83 percent in 2000. Over the same decade, the percentage of Appenzellers identifying as Hispanic more than doubled from 3.30 percent to 5.37 percent. Interestingly, there was also a small emergence of Asian/Pacific Islander Appenzellers in 2010, which were not recorded in 2000. However, no people with this surname identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native during either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.83%	92.83%	-3.13%
Hispanic	3.3%	5.37%	62.73%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.81%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%