Explore the Family Name Prahl

The meaning of Prahl

German: nickname for a loud, ostentatious, or boastful person, from Middle Low German prāle ‘pomp, display’, or ‘noise’, or from prālen ‘to boast’.

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

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

According to the Popularity data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Prahl held the rank of 17,781 in 2000 and shifted slightly to 17,911 in 2010, indicating a decrease in popularity by approximately 0.73%. However, the actual count of individuals with this surname increased from 1,452 in 2000 to 1,561 in 2010, showing a growth of 7.51%. Despite this increase in absolute numbers, the proportion of individuals carrying the Prahl surname per 100,000 people dropped by 1.85% over the same period, from 0.54 to 0.53.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,781	#17,911	-0.73%
Count	1,452	1,561	7.51%
Proportion per 100k	0.54	0.53	-1.85%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Prahl

When considering Ethnicity according to the Decennial U.S. Census, the majority of individuals with the surname Prahl identified as White, with a noticeable decrease from 97.80% in 2000 to 94.43% in 2010. The data shows notable increases in other ethnic identities over this decade. The percentage identifying as Hispanic more than doubled from 0.96% to 2.05%, and those identifying as Black also saw a similar doubling from 0.55% to 1.15%. A small proportion identified as being of two or more races, increasing significantly from 0.41% to 0.77%. Interestingly, there were no individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in 2000, but by 2010, these categories represented 0.90% and 0.70% respectively of individuals with the surname Prahl.

	2000	2010	Change
White	97.8%	94.43%	-3.45%
Hispanic	0.96%	2.05%	113.54%
Black	0.55%	1.15%	109.09%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.9%	0%
Two or More Races	0.41%	0.77%	87.8%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.7%	0%