Explore the Family Name Oertel

The meaning of Oertel

German (also Örtel): from a pet form of the medieval personal names Ortolf or Ortwin. Compare Ertel. Some characteristic forenames: German Fritz, Dieter, Gerhard, Hans, Heinz, Horst, Irmgard.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Oertel saw a slight dip in popularity from 2000 to 2010, moving down in rank from 23,940 to 24,064, representing a change of -0.52%. However, despite this decrease in ranking, the actual count of individuals with this surname increased by 6.4% during the same period, from 984 in 2000 to 1,047 in 2010. The proportion per 100,000 people also dropped slightly by -2.78%, indicating that while the number of people with the Oertel surname grew, it did not keep pace with the overall population growth.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#23,940	#24,064	-0.52%
Count	984	1,047	6.4%
Proportion per 100k	0.36	0.35	-2.78%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Oertel

Turning to ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals some shifts within the demographic makeup of individuals bearing the Oertel surname between 2000 and 2010. There was an increase in those identifying as Hispanic, with a substantial rise of 58.28%. A new category appeared in 2010, with 0.76% of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, which was not recorded in 2000. Those identifying with two or more races saw a decrease of -6.25%, and those with White ethnic identity experienced a minor decline of -1.46%. No changes were observed for Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native categories.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.44%	95.03%	-1.46%
Hispanic	1.63%	2.58%	58.28%
Two or More Races	1.12%	1.05%	-6.25%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.76%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%