Sever
A masculine name derived from the Latin verb "severus," meaning stern or strict.
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Sever. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sever today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sever births was 1915 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sever. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sever. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1915
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1915 SSA rank
#4,309
Tracked since 1915
Census
Sever in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 100 people with the first name Sever, which placed it at #53,336 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#53,336
National first-name rank
People counted
100
100 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sever
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sever is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Hispanic (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sever described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sever at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.0% · 79
- Black or African American8.0% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 2
Popularity
Sever: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Sever by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sever during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Sever
The name Sever has its origins in the Latin language and is derived from the word "severus," which means "stern" or "serious." It was a popular name among the ancient Romans and has been used in various forms throughout history.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sever dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was borne by several notable figures in ancient Rome. One of the most famous was Lucius Septimius Severus, a Roman emperor who ruled from 193 to 211 AD. He was known for his military prowess and his efforts to consolidate the Roman Empire.
In the 4th century, the name Sever was also used by Saint Sever, a Bishop of Ravenna who lived from around 344 to 420 AD. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and is remembered for his piety and dedication to the faith.
The name Sever continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages, particularly in Eastern Europe. One notable figure was Sever Moghila, a Metropolitan of Kiev who lived from 1572 to 1633. He played a significant role in the history of the Orthodox Church and was known for his efforts to promote education and culture.
In the 19th century, the name Sever gained popularity in Russia, where it was sometimes used as a shortened form of the name Severian or Severyan. One famous bearer of the name was Sever Rachinsky, a Russian educator and philanthropist who lived from 1833 to 1902. He founded numerous schools and educational institutions throughout Russia.
Another notable figure was Sever Gansovsky, a Russian painter and art teacher who lived from 1881 to 1950. He was known for his landscapes and portraits, and his works are held in various museums and galleries around the world.
In more recent times, the name Sever has been less common, but it has been borne by a few notable individuals. One example is Sever Ganovski, a Bulgarian writer and playwright who lived from 1880 to 1959. He was known for his plays and novels that explored themes of rural life and social issues.
People
Sever + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sever as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sever: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sever?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sever going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about - US residents.
Is Sever a common name?
We classify Sever as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sever most popular?
The single biggest year for Sever was 1915, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sever is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sever in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 100 people with the name Sever, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,336 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sever in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sever?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sever leans strongly male. 88 people counted with this name were male (88.0%), compared with 12 female bearers (12.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sever?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sever is White at 79.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.0%) and Hispanic (8.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sever most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sever in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.0% (79 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sever in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sever a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sever in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sever still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sever in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sever can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Sever?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Sever at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.