Explore the Family Name Moles

The meaning of Moles

1. English: variant of Moll, with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s. 2. English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Meulles (Calvados). See also Moyles. 3. Catalan: habitational name from any of various minor places called Moles, from the plural of mola (see Mola).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname "Moles" experienced a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. It dropped in rank from 10,696 to 11,355, reflecting a change of -6.16%. Despite this, the actual count of individuals with the surname increased by 1.35%, growing from 2,741 in 2000 to 2,778 in 2010. However, as a proportion of the population per 100,000 people, the name decreased by 7.84%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#10,696	#11,355	-6.16%
Count	2,741	2,778	1.35%
Proportion per 100k	1.02	0.94	-7.84%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Moles

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows a varied picture for the surname "Moles". The largest ethnic identity group remains White, although its percentage share fell slightly from 95.37% in 2000 to 93.16% in 2010. During the same period, the percentages of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic saw significant increases, with changes of 161.11% and 106.10% respectively. Individuals identifying as having two or more ethnic identities also saw a modest increase from 1.09% to 1.22%. The Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native groups saw minor increases as well, with the former's percentage changing from 1.28% to 1.30% and the latter's from 0.44% to 0.47%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.37%	93.16%	-2.32%
Hispanic	1.64%	3.38%	106.1%
Black	1.28%	1.3%	1.56%
Two or More Races	1.09%	1.22%	11.93%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.18%	0.47%	161.11%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.44%	0.47%	6.82%