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

Saville, 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 Saville surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Saville in America

Saville is the 9813th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Saville surname appeared 3,299 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Saville.

We can also compare 2010 data for Saville 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 Saville

The surname Saville is of English origin, deriving from the ancient Saxon settlement of Sevenoaks in Kent. The name is believed to have originated in the 11th century, with the earliest known reference appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is recorded as "Savillan".

The name is thought to be derived from the Old English words "sæfe", meaning "rush" or "sedge", and "ac", meaning "oak". This suggests that the original bearers of the name likely lived in an area abundant with rushes and oak trees, possibly near a body of water.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname was Roger de Saville, who was listed as a landowner in the Hundred Rolls of 1273. The Hundred Rolls were a survey of landholdings in England during the reign of King Edward I.

In the 14th century, the name appeared in various spellings, including Savill, Savil, and Savile. One notable bearer of the name during this time was Sir John Savile (1330-1399), a member of the English gentry and a knight of Yorkshire.

The Saville family became prominent in Yorkshire during the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the most notable members of the family was Sir George Savile (1633-1695), a prominent politician and writer who served as a Member of Parliament and authored several works on philosophy and politics.

Another notable figure was Sir Henry Savile (1549-1622), a scholar and mathematician who was appointed as the Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and made significant contributions to the field of classical studies.

In the 18th century, the name Saville was also associated with the town of Saville in West Yorkshire, which further solidified its connection to the region.

Other notable individuals with the surname Saville include Sir Ernest Savile (1858-1909), a British politician and Member of Parliament, and Alfred Savile Caley (1831-1914), an English botanist and naturalist.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Saville

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

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

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