Explore the Family Name Havel

The meaning of Havel

1. Czech: from the personal name Havel, derived from Latin Gallus (see Gall 3), the name borne by a 7th-century Irish missionary who was very active in Central Europe. The extra syllable was introduced by analogy with Latin Paulus, which yielded Czech Pavel. This surname is also found in Slovakia. 2. French: nickname from a derivative of Frankish haf ‘hook, pickaxe’ or of Old French have ‘pale, sickly’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Havel ranked 13,806 in popularity in the year 2000 and fell slightly to 14,458 in 2010, indicating a decrease of 4.72%. The number of people with this surname also showed a slight increase from 2,010 individuals in 2000 to 2,066 in 2010. However, the proportion of people per 100,000 with the Havel surname decreased by 6.67%, from 0.75 to 0.7.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#13,806	#14,458	-4.72%
Count	2,010	2,066	2.79%
Proportion per 100k	0.75	0.7	-6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Havel

According to the same census data, the ethnic identity associated with the surname Havel saw some shifts between 2000 and 2010. The majority of individuals identified as White, although the percentage dipped slightly from 97.51% to 95.45%. Meanwhile, there was a significant increase in those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, rising by 85% to 1.11%, and Hispanic, climbing by 106.25% to 1.65%. Additionally, the percentages of those identifying as Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native increased from 0 to 0.39%. The group identifying with two or more ethnicities also rose, ticking up by 36% to 1.02%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.51%	95.45%	-2.11%
Hispanic	0.8%	1.65%	106.25%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.6%	1.11%	85%
Two or More Races	0.75%	1.02%	36%
Black	0%	0.39%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.39%	0%