Snyder
A short form of the German surname Schneider, meaning "tailor".
Name Census estimates that about 188 living Americans carry the first name Snyder. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Snyder today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Snyder births was 2015 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Snyder. 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.
People living today
188
~ 1 in 1,823,161 Americans
Peak year
2015
21 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,716
Tracked since 1912
Census
Snyder in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 282 people with the first name Snyder, which placed it at #30,717 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
#30,717
National first-name rank
People counted
282
282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
40.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Snyder
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Snyder is Hispanic at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Black (22.0%). 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 Snyder 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 Snyder at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino40.8% · 115
- White27.0% · 76
- Black or African American22.0% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 10
- Two or more races1.8% · 5
Popularity
Snyder: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Snyder from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 110 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Snyder remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Snyder 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 Snyder during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Snyder
The given name Snyder has its origins in the Dutch language, derived from the occupational title "snijder," which means "cutter" or "tailor." This name first emerged in the Netherlands during the late Middle Ages, around the 13th or 14th century.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Snyder can be traced back to various Dutch historical records and documents from the 15th and 16th centuries. It was initially used to identify individuals who worked as tailors or in the textile industry, particularly those who specialized in cutting and shaping fabric.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Snyder was Jan Snyder, a Dutch tailor who lived in Amsterdam in the late 16th century. He is mentioned in several municipal records from that time period, although precise details about his life and work are scarce.
Another notable figure was Pieter Snyder, a Dutch painter and engraver who was active in the early 17th century. He was born in Haarlem around 1580 and is known for his intricate engravings depicting biblical scenes and landscapes.
In the 18th century, a German-born Dutch painter named Johann Snyder gained recognition for his landscapes and genre paintings. He was born in Frankfurt in 1718 and later settled in the Netherlands, where he spent the majority of his artistic career.
Moving into the 19th century, one of the most prominent individuals with the name Snyder was Henry Waller Snyder, an American architect and engineer. He was born in 1822 in Philadelphia and is best known for his work on the construction of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, which he co-designed with John Augustus Roebling.
Another notable figure from the 19th century was Samuel Snyder, an American politician and lawyer who served as the 14th Governor of Minnesota from 1889 to 1891. He was born in 1835 in Pennsylvania and played a significant role in the development of the state's educational system and infrastructure.
While the name Snyder has Dutch roots and was initially associated with the tailoring profession, it has since become a widely adopted name across various cultures and regions, particularly in North America and parts of Europe.
People
Snyder + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Snyder 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
Snyder: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Snyder?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 188 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Snyder 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 1 in 1,823,161 US residents.
Is Snyder a common name?
We classify Snyder as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Snyder most popular?
The single biggest year for Snyder was 2015, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Snyder is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Snyder in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 282 people with the name Snyder, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,717 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 Snyder 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 Snyder?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Snyder leans strongly male. 241 people counted with this name were male (87.6%), compared with 34 female bearers (12.4%). 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 Snyder?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Snyder is Hispanic at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Black (22.0%). 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 Snyder most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Snyder in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.8% (115 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 Snyder in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Snyder a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Snyder 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 Snyder still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Snyder 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 Snyder 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 many people are called Snyder?
You can see how many people have the name Snyder on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.