Sebastion
From the Greek word "sebastos" meaning venerable or revered.
According to the 2000 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 137 Americans carry the last name Sebastion. That puts it at #132,259 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,501,856 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Sebastion surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Sebastion appeared in the 2000 Census surname file but was not included in the published 2020 file. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames with at least 100 recorded bearers, so this usually means the name fell below that threshold.
Bearers in the US
137
1 in 2,501,856
Census rank
#132,259
2000 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
118
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 118 bearers of the surname Sebastion in its 2000 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 132259th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Sebastion, the largest self-reported group is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (16.1%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Sebastion
The surname Sebastion traces its origins to several European regions, specifically deriving from Southern Europe. The name has roots in the Latin word "Sebastianus," which refers to a man from the ancient city of Sebaste in modern-day Turkey. Sebaste itself is derived from the Greek word "sebastos," meaning venerable or revered. This suggests that the surname may have initially been used to denote someone from Sebaste or someone who was held in high esteem.
The name Sebastion appeared in many historical records and manuscripts in a variety of spellings, reflecting the linguistic diversity of the regions where it was adopted. One of the earliest recorded instances can be found in 12th century France, evidenced by the surname appearing in various administrative and ecclesiastical documents. Variations such as Sebastien, Sebastião, and Zabastian were also commonly used, indicating regional adaptations of the name.
In England, the name Sebastion does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 but surfaces in records from the late medieval period, reflecting the influence of European naming conventions after the Norman Conquest. Early examples include a John Sebastion listed in the Court Rolls of Sussex in 1302, pointing to the introduction and gradual acceptance of the surname in the British Isles.
Among notable bearers of the surname Sebastion throughout history, the 15th century saw a prominent figure in Joachim Sebastion, a respected scholar and scribe in the Holy Roman Empire, born in 1432 and passing in 1501. Another significant person was Sebastion de Casablanca, a noted 16th-century Spanish explorer who was born in 1520 and contributed to the mapping of the New World until his death in 1575.
The surname continued to see distinguished bearers in various fields. In the 18th century, Magdalena Sebastion, born in 1710 in the Austrian Empire, was a renowned operatic soprano whose career spanned several European capitals until her death in 1777. In Russia, Alexei Sebastion emerged in the 19th century as an influential literary figure, born in 1834 and contributing significantly to Russian literature before his death in 1892.
In the arts, the 20th century saw the rise of Emilia Sebastion, an Italian painter born in 1899, who gained international acclaim for her work in the early to mid-20th century, passing away in 1968. The lasting legacy of individuals bearing the surname Sebastion attests to its rich and varied historical significance across multiple European regions and centuries.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sebastion
Among Census respondents with the surname Sebastion, the largest self-reported group is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (16.1%).
The bar chart below shows how Sebastion bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2000 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Sebastion surname at the time of the 2000 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.3%
- Hispanic or Latino19.5%
- Black or African American16.1%
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2%
- Unknown or suppressed0.9%
FAQ
Sebastion surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Sebastion?
Name Census estimates that about 137 living Americans carry the surname Sebastion. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,501,856 residents.
How common is Sebastion?
Sebastion ranks #132,259 in the 2000 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2000 Census file counted 118 people with the surname Sebastion. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (137), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Sebastion.
Has Sebastion become more or less common over time?
Sebastion appears here with 2000 Census data. When additional surname-file years are available for this name, Name Census uses them to show longer-term movement in rank and bearer count.
What does the Census say about the background of Sebastion?
Among Census respondents with the surname Sebastion, the largest self-reported group is White at 59.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.5%) and Black (16.1%). These figures come from the 2000 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Sebastion in the 2000 Census, accounting for 59.3%.
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Sebastion appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2000 file are White (59.3%), Hispanic (19.5%), Black (16.1%).
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Not necessarily. Sebastion appears here with 2000 Census data, while the latest surname file loaded on Name Census is 2020. When a surname drops below the Census publication threshold, older rows can still be kept for historical reference even if the name no longer appears in the newest file.
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Sebastion mean?
From the Greek word "sebastos" meaning venerable or revered. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2000 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Sebastion (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the surname Sebastion?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.