Explore the Family Name Folan

The meaning of Folan

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Faoláin ‘descendant of Faolán’ (see Phelan, Whelan), or possibly from Mac Faoláin or its variant Mac Fhualáin, ‘son of Faolán’, the same personal name based on the diminutive of faol ‘wolf’. Some characteristic forenames: Irish Brendan, Liam.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Folan has seen a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. The surname was ranked 23,884 in 2000 but fell to 26,261 in 2010, marking a drop of about 9.95%. Similarly, the count of individuals with this surname decreased from 987 in 2000 to 930 in 2010, a decline of 5.78%. The proportion per 100k people also declined from 0.37 to 0.32, indicating a decrease of 13.51%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#23,884	#26,261	-9.95%
Count	987	930	-5.78%
Proportion per 100k	0.37	0.32	-13.51%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Folan

The Decennial U.S. Census data reveals certain shifts in the ethnic identity of individuals carrying the surname Folan. Over the decade between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased by 35.64%, while there was an increase of 45.05% among those reporting two or more races. Interestingly, the percentage of those identifying as White remained relatively stable at around 95%, showing only a slight decrease of 0.72%. Additionally, there was a significant growth of 50.00% in those identifying as Hispanic. However, there were no recorded changes in the numbers identifying as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.74%	95.05%	-0.72%
Hispanic	1.22%	1.83%	50%
Two or More Races	1.11%	1.61%	45.05%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.01%	0.65%	-35.64%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%