# Scaife (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/scaife/  
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 Old Norse.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,900 |
| US rank (2010) | 15,418 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 162,498 people |
| Change since 2000 | +12% (1,691 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈskaɪf/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Skaife |

## Etymology

From Old Norse skeifr (“awry, difficult”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Scaife 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) | 45% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 46% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 4.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Scaife in the United States.

## People named Scaife

- Richard Mellon Scaife, American Mellon family heir, and newspaper owner (1932–2014)

## Similar surnames

Scaff, Schaaf, Schiff, Schaff, Safi, Saif, Scobie, Sapp, Schwab, Shipp, Sabo, Swope.

## 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.