Explore the Family Name Biel

The meaning of Biel

1. Polish and Czech; Slovak (also Bieľ): nickname for a white- or fair-haired man, derived from Polish biały (noun biel), Old Czech bielý, Slovak biely ‘white’. 2. German: variant of Biehl.

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

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

The surname Biel saw an increase in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it was ranked 13,153rd most popular, but by 2010 it climbed to the 13,010th spot, marking a positive growth of 1.09%. The number of individuals with this surname also rose from 2131 in 2000 to 2359 in 2010, a surge of 10.7%. This increased the proportion per 100,000 people slightly from 0.79 to 0.8, suggesting a trend towards more widespread use of the surname.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#13,153	#13,010	1.09%
Count	2,131	2,359	10.7%
Proportion per 100k	0.79	0.8	1.27%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Biel

When it comes to the ethnic identity of the people carrying the surname Biel, again based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, there were some noticeable shifts between 2000 and 2010. White individuals accounted for the majority of the Biels, although their percentage dropped from 90.99% to 86.90% during this period. Meanwhile, the percentage of Biels identifying as Black saw a significant rise, increasing from 1.92% to 5.13%. The proportions of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic also grew, while the percentage of those claiming two or more races remained virtually unchanged. The number of Biels identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native saw a slight decrease.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.99%	86.9%	-4.49%
Hispanic	5.02%	5.47%	8.96%
Black	1.92%	5.13%	167.19%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.7%	1.14%	62.86%
Two or More Races	1.13%	1.14%	0.88%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.23%	0.21%	-8.7%