How common is the surname Spector?

4,622 people in the United States had the surname Spector in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 66,799 Americans. It ranked 7,221st of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Spector?

In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Spector identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Spector?

Phil Spector, American record producer (1939–2021), followed by Jonathan Spector.

Where is the surname Spector most common?

Wikidata records people named Spector in the United States.

Is the surname Spector getting more or less common?

Less common. 4,811 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,622 in 2010, down 3.9%.

The surname Spector

A Yiddish occupational surname, carried by 4,622 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex S123

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Spector is more common than 95.5% of them.

Origin

Yiddish origin

From Yiddish ספּעקטאָר (spektor), an occupational surname for a teacher's assistant in a Jewish school.

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

One of 31 Yiddish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 4,622 people named Spector in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 66,799 Americans. That is down 3.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,811.

#7,221

rank among US surnames

4,622

people in 2010

1.6

per 100,000 Americans

-3.9%

change since 2000 (was #6,507)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#7,216	Pankey	4,626	66,741
#7,217	Ni	4,624	66,770
#7,220	Buckles	4,623	66,785
#7,221	Spector	4,622	66,799
#7,223	Balbuena	4,621	66,814
#7,224	Shealy	4,620	66,828

Who is named Spector

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

96% of people named Spector identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 96%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
Two or more races 0.5%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Spectors

5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Phil Spector
American record producer (1939–2021)
Jonathan Spector
American soccer player, born 1986
Ronnie Spector
American singer (1943–2022)
Morgan Spector
American actor, born 1980
Warren Spector
American game designer, born 1955

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Spektor

Surnames that sound like Spector

Specht

Spector has the Soundex code S123, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S123.

Other Yiddish surnames

All 31 Yiddish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Spector come from?: From Yiddish ספּעקטאָר (spektor), an occupational surname for a teacher's assistant in a Jewish school.
How common is the surname Spector?: 4,622 people in the United States had the surname Spector in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 66,799 Americans. It ranked 7,221st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Spector?: In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Spector identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Spector?: Phil Spector, American record producer (1939–2021), followed by Jonathan Spector.
Where is the surname Spector most common?: Wikidata records people named Spector in the United States.
What type of surname is Spector?: Spector is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Spector getting more or less common?: Less common. 4,811 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,622 in 2010, down 3.9%.
What are other spellings of Spector?: Spektor.