Explore the Family Name Pakkala

The meaning of Pakkala

Finnish: habitational name from farms so named, from pakka ‘hill’ (a loanword from Swedish backe) + the locative suffix -la. A hereditary name in Ostrobothnia especially. Some characteristic forenames: Finnish Juhani, Olli, Pekka, Pentti, Seppo, Waino.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Pakkala has seen a slight uptick in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, Pakkala was ranked 65,668th in terms of popularity among surnames in the United States and climbed to 63,873rd by 2010, indicating a positive change of 2.73%. The count of individuals with this surname also increased during this decade, from 282 to 312, a growth of about 10.64%. Consequently, the proportion of people with the surname Pakkala per 100,000 also rose by approximately 10%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#65,668	#63,873	2.73%
Count	282	312	10.64%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.11	10%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pakkala

Looking at the ethnic identity distribution among those with the surname Pakkala, based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority identify as White. However, there has been a slight decrease in this category, dropping from 92.55% in 2000 to 91.03% in 2010. On the other hand, representation of individuals with Asian/Pacific Islander heritage has seen significant growth, rising by nearly 48% over the decade, from 3.90% to 5.77%. The Hispanic segment decreased by roughly 21.13%, falling from 2.84% to 2.24%. There were no reported changes for those identifying as two or more races, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.55%	91.03%	-1.64%
Asian/Pacific Islander	3.9%	5.77%	47.95%
Hispanic	2.84%	2.24%	-21.13%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%