How common is the surname Shaeffer?

2,373 people in the United States had the surname Shaeffer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 130,108 Americans. It ranked 12,944th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Shaeffer?

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

Is the surname Shaeffer getting more or less common?

More common. 2,340 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,373 in 2010, up 1.4%.

The surname Shaeffer

An occupational surname, carried by 2,373 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). Shaeffer is more common than 92% of them.

Origin

From German Schäfer (“shepherd”). More at Schaefer.

Shaeffer 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 2,373 people named Shaeffer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 130,108 Americans. That is up 1.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,340.

#12,944

rank among US surnames

2,373

people in 2010

0.8

per 100,000 Americans

+1.4%

change since 2000 (was #12,206)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#12,935	Marden	2,375	129,998
#12,941	Ladue	2,374	130,053
#12,944	Steffey	2,373	130,108
#12,948	Letson	2,372	130,163
#12,953	Silverberg	2,371	130,217

Who is named Shaeffer

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

95% of people named Shaeffer identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.1%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Shaeffer

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

Questions

Where does the surname Shaeffer come from?: From German Schäfer (“shepherd”). More at Schaefer.
How common is the surname Shaeffer?: 2,373 people in the United States had the surname Shaeffer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 130,108 Americans. It ranked 12,944th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shaeffer?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Shaeffer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
What type of surname is Shaeffer?: Shaeffer is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Shaeffer getting more or less common?: More common. 2,340 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,373 in 2010, up 1.4%.