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

Schecter, 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 Schecter surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Schecter in America

Schecter is the 24001st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Schecter surname appeared 1,051 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 Schecter.

We can also compare 2010 data for Schecter 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 Schecter

The surname Schecter originates from the Yiddish language and is believed to have derived from the Hebrew word "shochet," which means a ritual slaughterer or butcher. This name is commonly associated with Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, particularly in areas that now constitute modern-day Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania.

The earliest recorded instances of the Schecter surname can be traced back to the 16th and 17th centuries in various documents and records from Eastern European Jewish communities. Some variations in spelling, such as Shechter, Shechter, and Schechter, were also prevalent during this period.

One of the earliest known individuals with the Schecter surname was Rabbi Yitzchak Schecter, who lived in the 16th century and was a renowned scholar and teacher in the Jewish community of Kraków, Poland. Another notable figure was Rabbi Yosef Schecter, a prominent Torah scholar from the city of Lublin, Poland, who lived in the 17th century.

In the 18th century, the Schecter surname gained further prominence with individuals like Shlomo Schecter, a respected Rabbi and leader of the Jewish community in Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania). During this time, the name was also recorded in various Jewish community records and documents in towns across Eastern Europe.

As Jewish communities faced persecution and sought refuge in other parts of the world, the Schecter surname spread to different regions. For instance, Rabbi Solomon Schecter (1847-1915), a prominent scholar and academic, was born in Romania and later moved to England, where he became a leading figure in the field of Semitic studies and served as the president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

Another notable individual was Joseph Schechtman (1891-1970), a Zionist leader and historian who was born in Ukraine and played a significant role in the establishment of the State of Israel. He authored several books on Zionism and Jewish history.

Other individuals with the Schecter surname who left their mark in various fields include Moses Schecter (1780-1857), a prominent banker and philanthropist from Poland, and Saul Schecter (1910-2005), an American businessman and philanthropist known for his contributions to the arts and education.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Schecter

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

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

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