Explore the Family Name Dahling

The meaning of Dahling

1. German (Dähling): topographic name for someone who lived in a valley (see Dahl), or a habitational name for someone from a place called with this word. 2. Swedish: variant of Dahl + the suffix -ing ‘belonging to’. 3. Norwegian: from the farm name Daling, composed of the elements dal ‘valley’ + eng ‘meadow’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Dahling has seen a slight increase between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 73,931 in popularity with a count of 244 individuals carrying this name. By 2010, the rank rose to 71,478 with an increased count of 273 people, representing an overall popularity growth of 3.32%. Despite this increase, the proportion per 100,000 people remained at 0.09, indicating that the rise in popularity did not significantly affect its prevalence in the population.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#73,931	#71,478	3.32%
Count	244	273	11.89%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.09	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Dahling

Regarding ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the Dahling surname was predominantly associated with White ethnicity in both 2000 and 2010, despite a decrease from 96.31% to 91.21% over the decade. The data also reveals some diversification in the ethnic identities tied to this surname over time. While no instances of Hispanic, Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native, or Two or More Races were recorded in 2000, by 2010, these categories had respective representations of 4.03%, 0%, 1.83%, and 1.83%. Notably, there was no change in the percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.31%	91.21%	-5.3%
Hispanic	0%	4.03%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	1.83%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	1.83%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%