# Shakespeare (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shakespeare/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,275 |
| US rank (2010) | 20,739 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 242,153 people |
| Change since 2000 | +19% (1,069 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Shakespere, Shakspeare, Shakspere |

## Etymology

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shakespeare 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) | 57% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 30% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 7.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shakespeare in the United States.

## People named Shakespeare

- Frank Shakespeare, American rower
- Frank J. Shakespeare, American businessman and diplomat (1925–2022)

## 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.