Explore the Family Name Sponsel

The meaning of Sponsel

German: variant of Spannseil, a metonymic occupational name for a rope maker, from Middle High German spān ‘wood chip’ or spannen ‘to pull, tighten’ + seil ‘rope’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname "Sponsel" saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked as the 42,604th most common last name and by 2010 had dropped to 44,356th place, representing a 4.11% decrease. Despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Sponsel surname increased slightly from 479 to 485 during this decade, an increase of 1.25%. However, when looking at the proportion per 100,000 people, there was an 11.11% decrease.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#42,604	#44,356	-4.11%
Count	479	485	1.25%
Proportion per 100k	0.18	0.16	-11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sponsel

The ethnic identity associated with the Sponsel surname also experienced some changes between 2000 and 2010, according to Decennial U.S. Census data. The number of individuals identifying as White decreased by 2.53%, from 95.82% to 93.40%. There was an increase in those identifying with two or more ethnicities, from 1.67% to 2.68%, marking a substantial growth of 60.48%. The percentage of individuals identifying as Hispanic also saw a significant increase, from 1.04% to 2.47%, a rise of 137.50%. No people with the Sponsel surname identified as Black, Asian/Pacific Islander in either census years, and those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native decreased to zero by 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.82%	93.4%	-2.53%
Two or More Races	1.67%	2.68%	60.48%
Hispanic	1.04%	2.47%	137.5%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.04%	0%	0%