Explore the Family Name Hessel

The meaning of Hessel

1. German and Dutch: from a pet form of Hess 3. 2. German: habitational name from any of the places called Hessel or Hesseln. 3. Swedish: variant of Hassel. 4. English (Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire): variant of Hazel.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Hessel experienced a decline in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 20,111th and by 2010 it had slipped to rank 24,137, marking a decrease of 20.02%. The number of individuals with the Hessel surname also dropped during this decade, from 1,233 in 2000 to 1,042 in 2010, a fall of 15.49%. The proportion of this surname per 100,000 people declined by 23.91% over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,111	#24,137	-20.02%
Count	1,233	1,042	-15.49%
Proportion per 100k	0.46	0.35	-23.91%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Hessel

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows a shift in the ethnic identity associated with the Hessel surname from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, most individuals with this surname identified as White (97.24%), but by 2010 this percentage had decreased slightly to 95.3%. Over the same period, there was an increase in those identifying as Hispanic from 1.22% to 2.69%. There were also minor changes in other groups; for instance, the representation of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and those identifying with two or more races increased from 0 to 0.58%, and 0.73% to 0.86% respectively. No changes were recorded for Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native identities.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.24%	95.3%	-2%
Hispanic	1.22%	2.69%	120.49%
Two or More Races	0.73%	0.86%	17.81%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.58%	0%
Black	0.41%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%