Explore the Family Name Wedel

The meaning of Wedel

German: 1. habitational name from any of various places called Wedel or Wedell, all in northern Germany. 2. in northwestern Germany a topographic name for someone who lived in a forest, from Middle Low German wede ‘wood, forest’ + lo ‘brush’, ‘wood’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Wedel saw a slight decrease in rank from 10,708 in 2000 to 11,174 in 2010, a change of -4.35. Despite this drop in ranking, the actual count of individuals with the Wedel surname increased by 3.36 percent over the decade, rising from 2,738 in 2000 to 2,830 in 2010. However, when considering the proportion per 100,000 people, there was a decrease of -4.95, moving from 1.01 in 2000 to 0.96 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#10,708	#11,174	-4.35%
Count	2,738	2,830	3.36%
Proportion per 100k	1.01	0.96	-4.95%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Wedel

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some shifts for the surname Wedel between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, 96.09 percent identified as White which slightly decreased to 95.12 percent in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw an increase of 67.33 percent while Asian/Pacific Islander representation within the Wedel surname increased by 62.16 percent. There was a small increase in those who identified as Black, rising from 0.26 percent to 0.28 percent. Meanwhile, those identifying as two or more races decreased by -10.69 percent and American Indian and Alaskan Native identifiers also dropped by -31.91 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.09%	95.12%	-1.01%
Hispanic	1.5%	2.51%	67.33%
Two or More Races	1.31%	1.17%	-10.69%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.37%	0.6%	62.16%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.47%	0.32%	-31.91%
Black	0.26%	0.28%	7.69%