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    The surname Reaves

    An occupational surname, carried by 15,550 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex R120

    Reaves: #2,344 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Reaves #2,344, 15,550 people Reaves: #2,344 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Reaves #2,344, 15,550 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Reaves is more common than 98.6% of them.

    Origin

    A patronymic form of the occupational name Reeve.

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

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 15,550 people named Reaves in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 19,855 Americans. That is up 7.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 14,465.

    #2,344
    rank among US surnames
    15,550
    people in 2010
    5.3
    per 100,000 Americans
    +7.5%
    change since 2000 (was #2,299)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,335Goddard15,59919,793
    #2,336Lombardo15,59819,794
    #2,337Brunner15,59319,800
    #2,338Rowley15,58819,807
    #2,339Shipman15,58119,816
    #2,340Corey15,56919,831
    #2,341Craven15,56719,833

    Who is named Reaves

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

    55% of people named Reaves identified as white (not Hispanic), 39% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as two or more races.

    • White (not Hispanic) 55%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 39%
    • Two or more races 2.4%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.3%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Reavess

    3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Austin Reaves
      American basketball player (born 1998)
    • Michael Reaves
      American writer and screenwriter (1950–2023)
    • Shawn Reaves
      American actor, born 1978

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Reaves

    Reaves has the Soundex code R120, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R120.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Reaves come from?
    A patronymic form of the occupational name Reeve.
    How common is the surname Reaves?
    15,550 people in the United States had the surname Reaves in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 19,855 Americans. It ranked 2,344th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Reaves?
    In the 2010 Census, 55% of people named Reaves identified as white (not Hispanic), and 39% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Reaves?
    Austin Reaves, American basketball player (born 1998), followed by Michael Reaves.
    Where is the surname Reaves most common?
    Wikidata records people named Reaves in the United States.
    What type of surname is Reaves?
    Reaves is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
    Is the surname Reaves getting more or less common?
    More common. 14,465 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,550 in 2010, up 7.5%.