How common is the surname Alter?

3,830 people in the United States had the surname Alter in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 80,612 Americans. It ranked 8,597th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Alter?

In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Alter identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Alter?

Harvey J. Alter, American medical researcher, followed by Robert Alter.

Where is the surname Alter most common?

Wikidata records people named Alter in the United States.

Is the surname Alter getting more or less common?

More common. 3,731 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,830 in 2010, up 2.7%.

The surname Alter

A surname, carried by 3,830 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex A436

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Alter is more common than 94.7% of them.

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,830 people named Alter in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 80,612 Americans. That is up 2.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,731.

#8,597

rank among US surnames

3,830

people in 2010

1.3

per 100,000 Americans

+2.7%

change since 2000 (was #8,176)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#8,593	Cueto	3,833	80,549
#8,594	Haack	3,832	80,570
#8,596	Shears	3,831	80,591
#8,597	Alter	3,830	80,612
#8,598	Dowden	3,829	80,633

Who is named Alter

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

94% of people named Alter identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Alters

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Harvey J. Alter
American medical researcher, born 1935
Robert Alter
American professor (b. 1935)
David Alter
American inventor and scientist (1807–1881)
Hobart Alter
American businessman (1933-2014)
Dinsmore Alter
American astronomer (1888–1968)
Francis Karl Alter
Austrian linguist (1749-1804)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Alter

Alter has the Soundex code A436, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A436.

Questions

How common is the surname Alter?: 3,830 people in the United States had the surname Alter in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 80,612 Americans. It ranked 8,597th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Alter?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Alter identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Alter?: Harvey J. Alter, American medical researcher, followed by Robert Alter.
Where is the surname Alter most common?: Wikidata records people named Alter in the United States.
Is the surname Alter getting more or less common?: More common. 3,731 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,830 in 2010, up 2.7%.