Explore the Family Name Wal

The meaning of Wal

1. Polish: from a short form of the personal name Walenty, Polish form of Valentine. 2. Dutch: very rare variant of Van der Wal (see Vanderwal) or its cognate Van de Wal and, in North America, probably (also) a shortened form of these.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the Wal surname has increased between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 81,414 in popularity, but by 2010 it had improved to a rank of 62,531, marking a 23.19% increase. The count of individuals with this surname also rose from 216 in 2000 to 320 in 2010, a significant jump of 48.15%. Accordingly, the proportion of Wals per 100,000 people increased by 37.5% over this period, demonstrating that the surname is becoming more common.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#81,414	#62,531	23.19%
Count	216	320	48.15%
Proportion per 100k	0.08	0.11	37.5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wal

The ethnicity breakdown of those with the Wal surname, as presented in the Decennial U.S. Census, shows some notable changes between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of Wals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased by 37.35%, while the proportion reporting two or more races fell by 17.51%. Similarly, the percentage of Wals who identify as white saw a decrease of 27.89%. However, the percentage of Wals who identify as black markedly increased by 167.61%, making it the most significant growth among all ethnic identities. Throughout both years, there were no reported Wals of Hispanic or American Indian and Alaskan Native descent.

	2000	2010	Change
White	74.54%	53.75%	-27.89%
Black	13.43%	35.94%	167.61%
Asian/Pacific Islander	6.48%	4.06%	-37.35%
Two or More Races	4.17%	3.44%	-17.51%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%