Explore the Family Name Happel

The meaning of Happel

German: from a pet form of the medieval German personal names Hadebald or Hadebert, composed of the elements had(u) ‘battle, strife’ + berht ‘bright, famous’ or bald ‘bold, brave’.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Happel has seen a slight decrease in popularity over the decade from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname ranked 15,578th in terms of popularity and by 2010 had slipped slightly to 15,727th, marking a change of -0.96%. However, the count of individuals with this surname increased by 7.6% over the same period, from 1,723 in 2000 to 1,854 in 2010. Also, the proportion of people named Happel per 100k dipped by 1.56%, from 0.64 in 2000 to 0.63 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#15,578	#15,727	-0.96%
Count	1,723	1,854	7.6%
Proportion per 100k	0.64	0.63	-1.56%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Happel

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data indicates some shifts among those bearing the Happel surname between 2000 and 2010. The dominant ethnicity is White, comprising 96.05% in 2000 and slightly decreasing to 95.95% in 2010. Interestingly, the Hispanic representation almost doubled, moving from 0.81% in 2000 to 1.78% in 2010 - an increase of 119.75%. Those identifying as being of two or more races also grew by 39.51%, from 0.81% to 1.13%. Conversely, the Black demographic declined by 48.08%, from 1.04% to 0.54%. Meanwhile, the statistics for Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native were suppressed for privacy.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.05%	95.95%	-0.1%
Hispanic	0.81%	1.78%	119.75%
Two or More Races	0.81%	1.13%	39.51%
Black	1.04%	0.54%	-48.08%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.87%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.41%	0%	0%