Skip to content

The surname Shaffer

A surname, carried by 59,943 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈʃeɪ.fɚ/ 2 syllables Soundex S160

Shaffer: #560 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Shaffer #560, 59,943 people Shaffer: #560 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott Shaffer #560, 59,943 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shaffer is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

A surname, variant of Schaefer.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 59,943 people named Shaffer in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 5,151 Americans. That is up 1.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 59,227.

#560
rank among US surnames
59,943
people in 2010
20
per 100,000 Americans
+1.2%
change since 2000 (was #505)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#551Cain60,9485,066
#552Patrick60,8455,074
#553Pineda60,8205,076
#554Burnett60,7915,079
#555Mercado60,7615,081
#556Santana60,6675,089
#557Shepherd60,4795,105

Who is named Shaffer

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

93% of people named Shaffer identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 1.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 93%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 2.5%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.9%
  • Two or more races 1.5%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Shaffers

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • James "Munky" Shaffer
    American guitarist (born 1970)
  • Atticus Shaffer
    American actor (born 1998)
  • Anna Shaffer
    British actress, born 1992
  • Lee Shaffer
    American basketball player (born 1939)
  • John Shaffer
    American politician (1827-1870)

Notable Shaffers come mostly from the United States (4) and the United Kingdom (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Shaffer

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

Questions

How common is the surname Shaffer?
59,943 people in the United States had the surname Shaffer in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 5,151 Americans. It ranked 560th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shaffer?
In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Shaffer identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Shaffer?
James "Munky" Shaffer, American guitarist (born 1970), followed by Atticus Shaffer.
Where is the surname Shaffer most common?
Wikidata records people named Shaffer in the United States and the United Kingdom.
How do you pronounce Shaffer?
Shaffer is /ˈʃeɪ.fɚ/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Shaffer getting more or less common?
More common. 59,227 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 59,943 in 2010, up 1.2%.