Explore the Family Name Portell

The meaning of Portell

Catalan: probably a habitational name from any of the places in Girona and Lleida provinces called Portell, from a diminutive of porta ‘gate’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Portell has slightly declined over the past decade. In the 2000 Census, it ranked 24,037 in popularity with a count of 979 individuals carrying that surname, while by the 2010 Census, its rank had slipped to 26,212 with a count of 933. This represents a drop in popularity by 9.05% and a decrease in occurrence by 4.7%. The proportion of people with the Portell surname per 100,000 also decreased from 0.36 to 0.32, showing an 11.11% decline.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,037	#26,212	-9.05%
Count	979	933	-4.7%
Proportion per 100k	0.36	0.32	-11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Portell

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Portell also saw some shifts between 2000 and 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the majority of those with the surname identified as White (90.91% in 2000 and 88.53% in 2010), there was a slight decrease in this percentage. At the same time, there were increases in other ethnicities. Although previously unrecorded, Asian/Pacific Islander and Two or more races emerged in 2010, accounting for 0.75% and 0.54% respectively. Hispanic representation also rose from 7.25% to 8.79%, and Black representation increased from 0.72% to 0.86%. Lastly, American Indian and Alaskan Native representation marginally increased from 0.51% to 0.54%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.91%	88.53%	-2.62%
Hispanic	7.25%	8.79%	21.24%
Black	0.72%	0.86%	19.44%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.75%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0.54%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.51%	0.54%	5.88%