How common is the surname Schafer?

24,543 people in the United States had the surname Schafer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,580 Americans. It ranked 1,452nd of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Schafer?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schafer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Schafer?

Hunter Schafer, American actress, model, and LGBTQ activist, followed by Karl Schäfer.

Where is the surname Schafer most common?

Wikidata records people named Schafer in the United States and Austria.

Is the surname Schafer getting more or less common?

More common. 23,804 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,543 in 2010, up 3.1%.

The surname Schafer

A German occupational surname, carried by 24,543 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). Schafer is more common than 99.1% of them.

Origin

German origin

From German Schäfer.

Schafer 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 24,543 people named Schafer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 12,580 Americans. That is up 3.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 23,804.

#1,452

rank among US surnames

24,543

people in 2010

8.3

per 100,000 Americans

+3.1%

change since 2000 (was #1,366)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,443	Elias	24,696	12,502
#1,444	Jacob	24,688	12,506
#1,445	Meredith	24,679	12,510
#1,446	McElroy	24,668	12,516
#1,447	Groves	24,629	12,536
#1,448	Uribe	24,612	12,545
#1,449	Hoskins	24,581	12,560

Who is named Schafer

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

95% of people named Schafer identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.4%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Schafers

7 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Hunter Schafer
American actress, model, and LGBTQ activist, born 1998
Karl Schäfer
Austrian figure skater and swimmer (1909–1976)
Tim Schafer
American video game designer (born 1967)
Natalie Schafer
American actress (1900-1991)
Ed Schafer
29th United States Secretary of Agriculture, born 1946
Alice T. Schafer
American mathematician (1915-2009)
Edward H. Schafer
American historian and sinologist (1913-1991)

Notable Schafers come mostly from the United States (6) and Austria (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Schaefer

Surnames that sound like Schafer

Schafer 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 Schafer come from?: From German Schäfer.
How common is the surname Schafer?: 24,543 people in the United States had the surname Schafer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,580 Americans. It ranked 1,452nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Schafer?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Schafer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Schafer?: Hunter Schafer, American actress, model, and LGBTQ activist, followed by Karl Schäfer.
Where is the surname Schafer most common?: Wikidata records people named Schafer in the United States and Austria.
What type of surname is Schafer?: Schafer is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Schafer getting more or less common?: More common. 23,804 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 24,543 in 2010, up 3.1%.
What are other spellings of Schafer?: Schaefer.