Explore the Family Name Gunnels

The meaning of Gunnels

Variant of Gunnells.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Gunnels has seen a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 12,360th in terms of prevalence, but by 2010, it had slipped to 13,453rd. This represents an 8.84% drop in ranking over ten years. The total count of individuals with the Gunnels surname also fell slightly during this period, from 2305 to 2264, indicating a decrease of 1.78%. Consequently, the proportion of the surname per 100,000 people decreased by 9.41%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,360	#13,453	-8.84%
Count	2,305	2,264	-1.78%
Proportion per 100k	0.85	0.77	-9.41%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gunnels

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that there have been some shifts in the ethnicity associated with the Gunnels surname from 2000 to 2010. The majority of individuals with this surname identified as White, though the percentage dropped slightly from 87.42% to 86.53%. Those identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase from 1.34% to 2.65%, nearly doubling over the decade. The proportion of people identifying as Black decreased from 8.98% to 7.73%. There was no Asian/Pacific Islander representation in 2000, but by 2010, this group represented 0.40% of the Gunnels surname bearers. Data for American Indian and Alaskan Native was suppressed in 2000, however, by 2010, they made up 0.71% of the population with this surname. Additionally, those identifying with two or more races increased from 1.48% to 1.99%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	87.42%	86.53%	-1.02%
Black	8.98%	7.73%	-13.92%
Hispanic	1.34%	2.65%	97.76%
Two or More Races	1.48%	1.99%	34.46%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.71%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.4%	0%