Explore the Family Name Parrella

The meaning of Parrella

Italian (mainly Campania): from Campanian dialect parrella ‘great titmouse’, presumably applied as a nickname for someone thought to resemble the bird in some way. Compare Parrilla. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Sal, Angelo, Carmine, Cosmo, Dino, Enrico, Gennaro, Martino, Rocco.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Parrella experienced a slight decrease between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 26,898 in popularity with a count of 849 Parrellas recorded. By 2010, although the number of individuals bearing the Parrella name had increased slightly to 851, its rank had dropped to 28,131. This change represents a -4.58% shift in ranking and a minor 0.24% increase in count.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#26,898	#28,131	-4.58%
Count	849	851	0.24%
Proportion per 100k	0.31	0.29	-6.45%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Parrella

The Decennial U.S. Census data provides an insightful look into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Parrella. According to the census data, the majority (95.65%) of individuals carrying the Parrella surname identified as White in 2010, a slight increase from 95.29% in 2000. The second largest group identified as Hispanic, making up 2.59% of Parrellas in 2010, down from 2.83% in 2000. Notably, the number of Parrellas identifying as Black was zero in 2000 but rose to 0.59% by 2010. Data for those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native was suppressed or remained at zero. The proportion of Parrellas reporting two or more races declined from 1.18% to 0.82%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.29%	95.65%	0.38%
Hispanic	2.83%	2.59%	-8.48%
Two or More Races	1.18%	0.82%	-30.51%
Black	0%	0.59%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%