# Niven (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/niven/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,334 |
| US rank (2010) | 20,047 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 231,443 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (1,301 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From the Scottish Gaelic variant of Nevin.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Niven in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 96% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Niven in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Niven

- David Niven, British actor and novelist (1910–1983)
- Larry Niven, American writer (born 1938)
- Barbara Niven, American actress
- Jennifer Niven, American novelist

## Similar surnames

Nevin, Navin.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.