How common is the surname Greaves?

5,217 people in the United States had the surname Greaves in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 59,181 Americans. It ranked 6,505th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Greaves?

William Greaves, American documentary filmmaker (1926–2014), followed by William Michael Herbert Greaves.

Where is the surname Greaves most common?

Wikidata records people named Greaves in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

How do you pronounce Greaves?

Greaves is /ɡɹivz/, one syllable.

Is the surname Greaves getting more or less common?

More common. 4,731 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,217 in 2010, up 10%.

The surname Greaves

An English place surname, carried by 5,217 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ɡɹivz/ 1 syllable Soundex G612

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Greaves is more common than 96% of them.

Origin

English origin

Topographic surname for someone who lived near a brushwood or thicket, from Old English grǣfe (“brushwood, thicket”).

Greaves is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

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 5,217 people named Greaves in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 59,181 Americans. That is up 10% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,731.

#6,505

rank among US surnames

5,217

people in 2010

1.8

per 100,000 Americans

+10.3%

change since 2000 (was #6,608)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#6,502	Alvey	5,220	59,147
#6,503	Cashman	5,219	59,158
#6,504	Dave	5,218	59,169
#6,505	Pattison	5,217	59,181

Who is named Greaves

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

61% of people named Greaves identified as white (not Hispanic), 32% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 61%
Black (not Hispanic) 32%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.9%
Two or more races 2.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Greavess

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

William Greaves
American documentary filmmaker (1926–2014)
William Michael Herbert Greaves
British astronomer (1897–1955)

Notable Greavess come mostly from the United States (1) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Greaves

Greaves has the Soundex code G612, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G612.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Greaves come from?: Topographic surname for someone who lived near a brushwood or thicket, from Old English grǣfe (“brushwood, thicket”).
How common is the surname Greaves?: 5,217 people in the United States had the surname Greaves in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 59,181 Americans. It ranked 6,505th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Greaves?: In the 2010 Census, 61% of people named Greaves identified as white (not Hispanic), and 32% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Greaves?: William Greaves, American documentary filmmaker (1926–2014), followed by William Michael Herbert Greaves.
Where is the surname Greaves most common?: Wikidata records people named Greaves in the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
How do you pronounce Greaves?: Greaves is /ɡɹivz/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Greaves?: Greaves is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Greaves getting more or less common?: More common. 4,731 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,217 in 2010, up 10%.