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

Garvey, 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 Garvey surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Garvey in America

Garvey is the 3196th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Garvey surname appeared 11,307 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Garvey.

We can also compare 2010 data for Garvey 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 Garvey

The surname Garvey is of Irish origin and is believed to have originated from the Gaelic word "garbh," which means "rough" or "coarse." It is thought to have been an occupational surname given to someone who worked with rough materials or had a coarse appearance or demeanor.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Garvey can be traced back to County Offaly in Ireland, where it was initially spelled as "Garbhaith" or "Garbhaigh." The name was first anglicized to "Garvey" during the 16th and 17th centuries.

In the Annals of the Four Masters, a medieval Irish chronicle, there are references to individuals with the name Garvey or its earlier spellings. For instance, in 1348, the death of Donough Garbhaigh, a chief of Calry in County Sligo, is recorded.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was William Garvey, who was born in County Offaly in the late 16th century. He was a landowner and is mentioned in the Fiants of Queen Elizabeth I, which were official records of the English Crown.

The Garvey surname has been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. Marcus Garvey, born in 1887 in Jamaica, was a prominent Pan-Africanist leader and activist who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).

Other notable individuals with the surname Garvey include:

1. John Garvey (1892-1980), an American prelate who served as the Bishop of Winona from 1950 to 1967.
2. Steve Garvey (born 1948), a former professional baseball player who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, and was named the National League MVP in 1974.
3. Ralph Garvey (1924-2015), an American filmmaker and producer known for his work on the television series "Daniel Boone" and "The Rookies."
4. Kathleen Garvey (1957-2017), an American author and journalist who wrote for publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
5. Edmund Garvey (1874-1949), an Irish Sinn Féin politician and member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who was involved in the Irish War of Independence.

While the Garvey surname is most commonly associated with Ireland, it has also been found in other parts of the world due to Irish emigration and diaspora. The name has spread to countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where descendants of Irish immigrants have settled.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Garvey

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

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 Garvey 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 Garvey 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 Garvey was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Garvey, 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!