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

Shaver, 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 Shaver surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shaver in America

Shaver is the 2135th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shaver surname appeared 16,972 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Shaver.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shaver 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 Shaver

The surname SHAVER is of English origin, derived from the occupation of a person who shaved or cut hair for a living. The name can be traced back to the Middle English period, around the 13th-14th century, when it first emerged as a descriptive occupational surname.

The name is believed to have originated from the Old English word "scafan," meaning "to shave" or "to scrape." Over time, this evolved into the Middle English "shaven" and eventually became the modern surname SHAVER. The earliest recorded spelling variations include Shaver, Shavers, Shavere, and Shaveour.

One of the earliest known references to the surname SHAVER can be found in the Calender of Wills, Husting Roll, dated around 1285, which mentions a person named "Hugh le Shavere" living in London at the time. This suggests that the name was already in use as an occupational descriptor by the late 13th century.

In the Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire, dated 1273, there is a record of a "William le Shavere" residing in that county. Similarly, the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire from 1301 mention a "John le Shavere" living in the region.

One notable historical figure with the surname SHAVER was William Shaver (1642-1705), an English navigator and explorer who is credited with being one of the first Europeans to explore the western coast of Australia. He served as a pilot on several voyages to the East Indies and published accounts of his travels.

Another prominent individual was Robert Shaver (1679-1734), an English writer and clergyman who authored several religious works, including "The Life of Christ" and "The History of the Church of England."

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the surname SHAVER dates back to the 17th century. Jacob Shaver (1635-1712) was a German immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania in the late 1600s and is considered one of the progenitors of the SHAVER family in America.

Another notable American with the surname was Benjamin Franklin Shaver (1813-1897), a lawyer and politician from South Carolina who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1857.

In more recent history, Henry Arthur Shaver (1858-1946) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who founded the Shaver Homesteads, a network of planned rural communities designed to provide affordable housing and employment opportunities for families during the Great Depression.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shaver

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

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

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

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