How common is the surname Cleaver?

4,509 people in the United States had the surname Cleaver in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 68,473 Americans. It ranked 7,387th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Cleaver?

Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (1935–1998), followed by Kathleen Neal Cleaver.

Where is the surname Cleaver most common?

Wikidata records people named Cleaver in the United States.

Is the surname Cleaver getting more or less common?

More common. 4,476 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,509 in 2010, up 0.7%.

The surname Cleaver

An English occupational surname, carried by 4,509 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex C416

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cleaver is more common than 95.4% of them.

Origin

English origin

Occupational surname for someone who split wood, from Middle English clevere (“one who cleaves”).

Cleaver is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,509 people named Cleaver in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 68,473 Americans. That is up 0.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,476.

#7,387

rank among US surnames

4,509

people in 2010

1.5

per 100,000 Americans

+0.7%

change since 2000 (was #6,915)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,383	Gama	4,513	68,412
#7,384	Shanley	4,511	68,443
#7,386	McCowan	4,510	68,458
#7,387	Findlay	4,509	68,473

Who is named Cleaver

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

84% of people named Cleaver identified as white (not Hispanic), 10% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 84%
Black (not Hispanic) 10%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Cleavers

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Eldridge Cleaver
American activist (1935–1998)
Kathleen Neal Cleaver
American activist (born 1945)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Cleaver

Cleaver has the Soundex code C416, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C416.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Cleaver come from?: Occupational surname for someone who split wood, from Middle English clevere (“one who cleaves”).
How common is the surname Cleaver?: 4,509 people in the United States had the surname Cleaver in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 68,473 Americans. It ranked 7,387th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cleaver?: In the 2010 Census, 84% of people named Cleaver identified as white (not Hispanic), and 10% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Cleaver?: Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (1935–1998), followed by Kathleen Neal Cleaver.
Where is the surname Cleaver most common?: Wikidata records people named Cleaver in the United States.
What type of surname is Cleaver?: Cleaver is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Cleaver getting more or less common?: More common. 4,476 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,509 in 2010, up 0.7%.