Show ContentsKaplan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Kaplan is an old Anglo-Saxon name that was given to a person who was a chaplain, the minister of a sanctuary or church. The name is derived from the Latin word capellanus 1

Early Origins of the Kaplan family

The surname Kaplan was first found in Hampshire where the oldest record of the name was Albert Chapelain, who was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a tenant in chief and the king's chaplain. 1

Early History of the Kaplan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kaplan research. Another 196 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1559, 1591, 1598, 1634, 1659, 1660, 1672, 1675, 1677 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Kaplan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kaplan Spelling Variations

The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore, spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Kaplan has been recorded under many different variations, including Chaplin, Chaplins, Chapline, Chaplyn, Cheplain, Chaplain, Chaiplin, Caplin, Caplines, Keplaine and many more.

Early Notables of the Kaplan family

Notables of the family at this time include Sir Francis Chaplin; Thomas Chaplin (1591-1672), an English draper and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1659 and 1660; and Samuel...
Another 31 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kaplan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kaplan Ranking

In the United States, the name Kaplan is the 1,413rd most popular surname with an estimated 22,383 people with that name. 2


United States Kaplan migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Kaplan or a variant listed above:

Kaplan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Friedman Kaplan, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1860
  • Andrew Kaplan, who arrived in Arkansas in 1882 3
  • Frank Kaplan, who landed in Arkansas in 1882 3
  • Sacharius Kaplan, who landed in Arkansas in 1886 3
  • Beer Kaplan, aged 7, who landed in America, in 1892
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Kaplan Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
  • Beimer Kaplan, aged 25, who immigrated to the United States, in 1900

Contemporary Notables of the name Kaplan (post 1700) +

  • Caroline Kaplan, American film producer on Marcel the Shell with Shoes On which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 95th Academy Awards
  • Melvin Kaplan (1929-2022), American oboist, concert manager, and formerly a teacher at the Juilliard School for 25 years awarded the Governor's Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Vermont in 1990 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vermont Arts Council in 1998
  • Marvin Kaplan (1927-2016), American actor., known for his roles in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Alice and The Great Race
  • Gilbert Edmund Kaplan (1941-2016), American businessman, journalist and conductor
  • David E. Kaplan, American theoretical particle physicist at the Johns Hopkins University
  • David B. Kaplan (b. 1958), American physicist and director of the Institute for Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington
  • David E. Kaplan (b. 1955), American investigative reporter and former director of the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
  • David Kaplan (1947-1992), American television producer for ABC News killed on assignment while his team was covering the Yugoslav Wars, posthumously awarded the International Press Freedom Award
  • David Benjamin Kaplan (b. 1933), American philosopher and logician teaching at UCLA
  • Justin Kaplan (1925-2014), American writer and editor, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (1967)
  • ... (Another 42 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Triangle Waist Company
  • Miss Tessie Kaplan (b. 1893), Russian Jewish garment worker who was working at Triangle Waist Company factory at the Asch building in Greenwich Village on the 25th March 1911 when fire broke out; she died in the fire 4
  • Miss Eva Kaplan, American worker who was at Triangle Waist Company factory at the Asch building in Greenwich Village on the 25th March 1911 when fire broke out; she survived the fire 4


  1. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  2. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  3. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  4. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (retrieved on 3rd August 2021.) Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire


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