Find out how popular the last name Cypher is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Cypher.

Cypher, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Cypher surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cypher in America

Cypher is the 19731st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cypher surname appeared 1,365 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Cypher.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cypher to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Cypher

The surname Cypher is of English origin, and it can be traced back to the late medieval period, around the 14th or 15th century. It is believed to have derived from the Middle English word "cifer," which itself came from the Old French "cifre" and ultimately from the Arabic "ṣifr," meaning "zero" or "empty."

In its earliest known usage, the name Cypher referred to someone who worked with numbers or was skilled in arithmetic, possibly an accountant or a scribe. It may have also been used as a nickname for someone who was considered insignificant or of little importance, reflecting the association of the word "cipher" with the concept of nothingness or being of no value.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Cypher can be found in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, dating back to the year 1379. In these records, a certain John Cypher is mentioned as a resident of the area.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Cypher appeared in various historical documents, including parish records and tax rolls. In 1592, a Thomas Cypher is recorded in the parish registers of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Another notable individual with this surname was Richard Cypher, who was born in Warwickshire, England, around 1620 and later emigrated to the American colonies, settling in Virginia.

In the 18th century, the Cypher surname gained prominence with the birth of John Cypher (1743-1831), a renowned English engraver and portrait painter. He is particularly known for his engravings of notable figures such as Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds.

Another individual of historical significance was Sir Lionel Cypher (1892-1972), a British diplomat and civil servant who served as the Governor of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) from 1949 to 1953.

Variants of the Cypher surname include Cipher, Sypher, and Sipher, which can be found in various historical records across different regions of England and Wales. The name may also have evolved from place names such as Cippenham in Buckinghamshire or Chipenham in Wiltshire, both of which have similarities to the spelling of the surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cypher

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Cypher.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Cypher was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Cypher has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Cypher was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Cypher, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!