Explore the Family Name Pulice

The meaning of Pulice

Italian: nickname from pulice ‘flea’, a dialect variant of pulce, denoting someone small and agile or perhaps an irritating individual. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Salvatore, Fiore, Saverio, Bonaventura, Corrado, Dino, Domenico, Enrico, Francesco, Gaetano, Giacomino, Gino.

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

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

According to the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Pulice experienced a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010, moving from rank 24,560 to 24,629, a change of -0.28%. However, the number of people with this surname increased by 6.29% during the same period, with the count rising from 954 to 1,014. The proportion of individuals bearing this name per 100k also saw a minor decline of -2.86%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,560	#24,629	-0.28%
Count	954	1,014	6.29%
Proportion per 100k	0.35	0.34	-2.86%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pulice

The Census data also reveals information about the ethnic identity of those carrying the Pulice surname. In 2010, the majority identified as White (94.38%), which was a slight decrease from 2000 when it was 95.70%. There was a notable increase in those identifying as Hispanic, from 2.20% in 2000 to 3.35% in 2010, a growth of 52.27%. Those who identify as Black also increased, going from 0.73% to 0.89%, a rise of 21.92%. Individuals identifying as being of two or more races made up a small percentage and decreased slightly during these years. No one with the Pulice surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.7%	94.38%	-1.38%
Hispanic	2.2%	3.35%	52.27%
Black	0.73%	0.89%	21.92%
Two or More Races	0.73%	0.69%	-5.48%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%