Explore the Family Name Gimpel

The meaning of Gimpel

1. German: from a pet form of the personal name Gumprecht (see Gombert). 2. South German: from the bird name Gimpel ‘bullfinch’, which later came to denote a naïve person. This surname is found mainly in the Allgäu area. 3. Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the Yiddish personal name Gimpl, a derivative of German Gumprecht (see Gombert).

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Gimpel saw a decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 40,833, but by 2010 it had fallen to 56,310—a decline of 37.9%. The number of individuals with this surname also decreased from 504 in 2000 to 363 in 2010, a significant drop of approximately 27.98%. Consequently, the proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 fell by 36.84%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#40,833	#56,310	-37.9%
Count	504	363	-27.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.12	-36.84%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gimpel

The ethnicity data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority of individuals with the surname Gimpel identify as White, making up 95.24% in 2000 and 94.49% in 2010. Hispanic representation among those with this surname also experienced a slight decrease, falling by 4.42% from 3.17% in 2000 to 3.03% in 2010. There was a small percentage (0.99%) of individuals identifying with two or more races in 2000, but this figure was not present in the 2010 data. No individuals with the Gimpel surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.24%	94.49%	-0.79%
Hispanic	3.17%	3.03%	-4.42%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.99%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%