Explore the Family Name Harmel

The meaning of Harmel

1. German: occupational name for a furrier, from Middle High German harm, hermel ‘ermine’. 2. German: from a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name composed with hari ‘army’ + man ‘man’. 3. Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from Yiddish harml ‘ermine’.

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

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

Based on the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Harmel experienced a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 38,320 in terms of commonality, but this fell to 42,858 by 2010, marking an 11.84% drop. The number of individuals with the Harmel surname also declined from 543 to 505 during this period, signifying a 7% decrease. Consequently, the proportion of people named Harmel per 100,000 individuals in the U.S. population dropped by 15%, from 0.2 to 0.17.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,320	#42,858	-11.84%
Count	543	505	-7%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.17	-15%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Harmel

In terms of ethnicity, again based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority of individuals with the Harmel surname identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, with the percentage slightly increasing from 95.21% to 95.25%. During the same period, those identifying as Hispanic decreased from 2.95% to 1.98%, a change of -32.88%. However, there was a noticeable increase among those identifying as Black, from 1.10% to 1.58%, showing a 43.64% growth. There were no recorded instances of the surname among the Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native communities in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.21%	95.25%	0.04%
Hispanic	2.95%	1.98%	-32.88%
Black	1.1%	1.58%	43.64%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%