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

Sheaffer, 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 Sheaffer surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sheaffer in America

Sheaffer is the 8087th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sheaffer surname appeared 4,100 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 Sheaffer.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sheaffer 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 Sheaffer

The surname Sheaffer originated in Germany and derives from the occupational name "Schaffer", which means "shepherd" or "sheep herder". It is believed to have first emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century.

The earliest known record of the name dates back to the year 1275, when a Johannes Schaeffer was mentioned in a document from the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, located in the southwest region of present-day Germany. It is thought that the name may have originally been spelled as "Scheffer" or "Schefer" before evolving into its current form.

During the Middle Ages, the Sheaffer surname was particularly prevalent in the regions of Swabia and Bavaria, where many families were engaged in sheep farming and related occupations. The name can also be found in various historical records from these areas, including tax rolls and church documents.

One notable historical figure bearing the Sheaffer name was Johann Sheaffer (1624-1677), a German Protestant theologian and philosopher who served as a professor at the University of Jena. Another early bearer of the name was Hans Sheaffer (1565-1634), a prominent architect and stonemason who worked on several important buildings in the city of Nuremberg.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Sheaffers migrated from Germany to other parts of Europe and North America, contributing to the spread of the surname. For example, Peter Sheaffer (1710-1782) was a German immigrant who settled in Pennsylvania and became a successful farmer and landowner.

Other notable individuals with the Sheaffer surname include Walter A. Sheaffer (1867-1959), an American industrialist who founded the Sheaffer Pen Company, and Winona Sheaffer (1888-1970), an American artist and illustrator known for her work in children's books.

While the Sheaffer name has its roots in Germany, it has since become distributed across various parts of the world, particularly in areas with significant German-American populations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sheaffer

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

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

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

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