How common is the surname Schaefer?

41,063 people in the United States had the surname Schaefer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,519 Americans. It ranked 841st of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Schaefer?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schaefer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Schaefer?

Manfred Schaefer, Australian soccer player (1943–2023), followed by Anne Schaefer.

Where is the surname Schaefer most common?

Wikidata records people named Schaefer in the United States and Australia.

Is the surname Schaefer getting more or less common?

More common. 40,663 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 41,063 in 2010, up 1.0%.

The surname Schaefer

A German occupational surname, carried by 41,063 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex S160

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Schaefer is more common than 99.5% of them.

Origin

German origin

From German Schaefer (“shepherd”), an occupational surname; from Middle High German schæfære, from late Old High German scāphare.

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

One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 41,063 people named Schaefer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,519 Americans. That is up 1.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 40,663.

#841

rank among US surnames

41,063

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+1%

change since 2000 (was #773)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#832	Corona	41,553	7,430
#833	Frederick	41,394	7,459
#834	Buckley	41,348	7,467
#835	McFarland	41,300	7,476
#836	Hebert	41,275	7,480
#837	Enriquez	41,271	7,481
#838	Hickman	41,163	7,501

Who is named Schaefer

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

95% of people named Schaefer identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.3% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.2%
Two or more races 1.3%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Schaefers

9 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Manfred Schaefer
Australian soccer player (1943–2023)
Anne Schaefer
American actress (1870-1957)
Henry F. Schaefer
American chemist, born 1944
George Schaefer
American television and theater director (1920-1997)
Jack Schaefer
American writer (1907–1991)
Herm Schaefer
American basketball player-coach (1918-1980)
William Donald Schaefer
American politician (1921-2011)
Hal Schaefer
American musician (1925–2012)
Will Schaefer
American musician (1928–2007)

Notable Schaefers come mostly from the United States (8) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Schafer

Surnames that sound like Schaefer

Schaefer has the Soundex code S160, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S160.

Other German surnames

All 1,101 German surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Schaefer come from?: From German Schaefer (“shepherd”), an occupational surname; from Middle High German schæfære, from late Old High German scāphare.
How common is the surname Schaefer?: 41,063 people in the United States had the surname Schaefer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,519 Americans. It ranked 841st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Schaefer?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schaefer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Schaefer?: Manfred Schaefer, Australian soccer player (1943–2023), followed by Anne Schaefer.
Where is the surname Schaefer most common?: Wikidata records people named Schaefer in the United States and Australia.
What type of surname is Schaefer?: Schaefer is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Schaefer getting more or less common?: More common. 40,663 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 41,063 in 2010, up 1.0%.
What are other spellings of Schaefer?: Schafer.