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

Shipman, 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 Shipman surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shipman in America

Shipman is the 2339th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shipman surname appeared 15,581 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 5 people would have the surname Shipman.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shipman 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 Shipman

The surname Shipman is of English origin and can be traced back to the 13th century. It is an occupational name derived from the Old English words "scip" meaning ship and "mann" meaning man, referring to a person who worked on ships, possibly as a sailor or shipbuilder.

The earliest recorded instance of the surname Shipman appears in the Hundredorum Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273, where it is listed as Schipman. During the medieval period, variations of the spelling included Shippman, Shipeman, and Schypman.

The name is also found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which records several place names containing the element "ship," such as Shipley in Yorkshire and Shiplake in Oxfordshire, suggesting that the surname may have originated from these locations.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John Shipman, born around 1350 in Wiltshire. He was a merchant and ship owner who played a significant role in the wool trade between England and the Low Countries.

Another notable figure was Sir Abraham Shipman (c. 1566-1643), an English merchant and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1619. He was heavily involved in the East India Company and the Virginia Company.

In the 17th century, Edward Shipman (1616-1681) was a prominent Puritan minister in New England, known for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. He served as a minister in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts.

The surname Shipman also has connections to the British Royal Navy. Admiral Sir Richmond Shipman (1778-1837) was a distinguished naval officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and was later appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Abraham Shipman (1662-1738), a British lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1727 to 1730.

While the surname Shipman originated in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world, including North America, Australia, and New Zealand, largely due to immigration patterns.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shipman

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

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

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

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