Explore the Family Name Zappala

The meaning of Zappala

Italian (Sicily): possibly an occupational name from Greek tsapelas ‘fig seller’. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Angelo, Salvatore, Antonio, Nunzio, Orazio, Alfio, Carmine, Cirino, Dante, Dino, Gaetano, Marco.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Zappala has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Zappala was ranked as the 28,049th most popular surname, but dropped to the 30,139th spot by 2010. This represents a change of -7.45%. The total count of individuals with this surname also declined from 804 in 2000 to 778 in 2010, a change of approximately -3.23%. The proportion of people with this surname per 100,000 decreased by 13.33% over the same time period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#28,049	#30,139	-7.45%
Count	804	778	-3.23%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.26	-13.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Zappala

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Zappala has also seen some changes between 2000 and 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While there were no individuals identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native with this surname in either year, there was a significant increase in the number of individuals identifying as Hispanic, rising from 3.23% to 7.2%. Meanwhile, the percentage of individuals with the Zappala surname identifying as white saw a small decline, falling from 95.27% in 2000 to 91.77% in 2010. Interestingly, those identifying with two or more races in 2000 disappeared by 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.27%	91.77%	-3.67%
Hispanic	3.23%	7.2%	122.91%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0.87%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%