Explore the Family Name Chapel

The meaning of Chapel

1. English and Scottish: variant of Chappell. 2. French: from a diminutive of Old French chape ‘hooded cloak, cape, hood’, or ‘hat’ (from Late Latin capa), hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of cloaks or hats, or a nickname for a habitual wearer of a distinctive cloak or hat.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Chapel has seen a slight shift in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 12,692 in terms of popularity and by 2010, it had slipped to a rank of 13,300, reflecting a decrease of around 4.79%. However, the total count of individuals bearing the surname increased slightly from 2,235 in 2000 to 2,293 in 2010, an increase of about 2.6%. The proportion of Chapels per 100,000 people also decreased from 0.83 to 0.78 during this time period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,692	#13,300	-4.79%
Count	2,235	2,293	2.6%
Proportion per 100k	0.83	0.78	-6.02%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Chapel

In terms of ethnic identity, the Chapel surname displayed some interesting changes between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. There was a notable increase in the percentage of Chapels with Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic ethnicity, with increases of 62.96% and 67.74%, respectively. The percentage of Chapels identifying as having two or more races nearly doubled, rising from 1.25% to 2.35%. Meanwhile, the proportion of Chapels identifying as White decreased from 78.12% to 74.40%, while the Black population remained stable at 15.48%. The American Indian and Alaskan Native Chapel population saw a decline of 32.94%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	78.12%	74.4%	-4.76%
Black	15.48%	15.48%	0%
Hispanic	4.03%	6.76%	67.74%
Two or More Races	1.25%	2.35%	88%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.85%	0.57%	-32.94%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.27%	0.44%	62.96%