Shipper last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Shipper

A surname derived from an occupation related to shipping or transportation.

Shipper, 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 Shipper surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shipper in America

Shipper is the 68547th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shipper surname appeared 287 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 Shipper.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shipper 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 68547 48877 33.50%
Count 287 405 -34.10%
Proportion per 100k 0.10 0.15 -40.00%

The history of the last name Shipper

The surname Shipper has its origins in England, and can be traced back to the 14th century. It is derived from the Old English word "scipere," which referred to someone who transported goods or merchandise by ship or boat. The name would have initially been given as an occupational surname to someone whose profession was that of a sailor or shipping merchant.

In its earliest recorded form, the name appeared as "le Shipper" in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1327. This indicates that the name was already well-established by that time. Variations in spelling were common in those days, and other early spellings included Shippere, Shyppar, and Shippare.

The Shipper surname is also found in some of the earliest surviving records of England, such as the Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire from 1176, where a Walter le Shippere is mentioned. This suggests that the name may have originated in that region or nearby areas.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was John Shipper, who was born in Yorkshire around 1490. Another notable figure was Sir Robert Shipper, a merchant and alderman of London, who lived from 1570 to 1633.

In the 16th century, the name appears to have spread to other parts of England, with records showing Shippers living in places like Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. For example, a William Shipper was born in Oxfordshire in 1583.

The name Shipper can also be found in some of the earliest settlement records of the American colonies. One of the first recorded instances is that of Thomas Shipper, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 from England.

Other notable people with the surname Shipper include Sir Edward Shipper (1621-1687), a Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London, and John Shipper (1671-1744), an English cartographer and surveyor who produced some of the earliest detailed maps of parts of North America.

These are just a few examples of the long and storied history of the Shipper surname, which has its roots in the seafaring and shipping trades of medieval England.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shipper

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

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 Shipper was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.43% 271
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 2.09% 6
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 2.09% 6

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 Shipper has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.43% 96.79% -2.47%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.09% 1.23% 51.81%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 2.09% (S)% (S)%

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

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

Reference this page

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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!

"Shipper last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on January 5, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/shipper-surname-popularity/.

"Shipper last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/shipper-surname-popularity/. Accessed 5 January, 2025

Shipper last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/shipper-surname-popularity/.

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