Explore the Family Name Kail

The meaning of Kail

1. German: habitational name from a place so named near Koblenz, or from a short form of an old personal name based on Geil, the Middle High German form of which means ‘happy, cocky, wilful’. 2. Americanized form of German Köhl (see Kohl) or Kehl. Compare Cail. 3. English (Dorset): variant of Call.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Kail has seen a notable increase over time. In 2000, the surname ranked 16,914th in popularity and increased to 15,183rd by 2010, marking an improvement of 10.23%. In terms of absolute numbers, the count of individuals bearing the Kail surname rose from 1,552 in 2000 to 1,940 in 2010, marking a significant growth of 25%. The proportion per 100,000 population also grew by 13.79%, from 0.58 in 2000 to 0.66 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#16,914	#15,183	10.23%
Count	1,552	1,940	25%
Proportion per 100k	0.58	0.66	13.79%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kail

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Kail also saw shifts between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. There was a dramatic increase of 231.78% in the Asian/Pacific Islander category, growing from 1.29% in 2000 to 4.28% in 2010. Similarly, the proportion of individuals with this surname identifying as two or more races increased by 73.28%, and those identifying as Hispanic rose by 92.25%. On the other hand, those identifying as white decreased slightly from 94.78% to 88.66%. Those identifying as Black increased from 1.03% to 1.70%, while American Indian and Alaskan Native identification increased from 0.32% to 0.62%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.78%	88.66%	-6.46%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.29%	4.28%	231.78%
Hispanic	1.42%	2.73%	92.25%
Two or More Races	1.16%	2.01%	73.28%
Black	1.03%	1.7%	65.05%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.32%	0.62%	93.75%