2000
#144,908
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 105
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Shnider
A surname likely derived from a German or Yiddish occupational name for a tailor or cloth cutter.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 119 Americans carry the last name Shnider. That puts it at #153,590 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.03 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,880,289 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Shnider 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.
Bearers in the US
119
1 in 2,880,289
Census rank
#153,590
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
104
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 104 bearers of the surname Shnider in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.03 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 153590th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Shnider, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.8%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Shnider
The surname Shnider originates from Eastern Europe, specifically the regions of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus. It is believed to have emerged during the late medieval period, around the 15th or 16th century. The name is derived from the Yiddish word "shnider," which means "tailor" or "cutter," indicating that the family's earliest ancestors may have been involved in the tailoring trade.
One of the earliest known references to the name Shnider can be found in historical records from the city of Lviv, which was part of the Kingdom of Poland at the time. In a document dated 1572, a merchant named Yakov Shnider is mentioned as a resident of the city's Jewish quarter.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Shnider surname appeared in various Jewish community records throughout Eastern Europe. Notable individuals from this period include Rabbi Moshe Shnider, a respected Torah scholar who lived in the town of Berdychiv (now in Ukraine) in the late 1600s, and Sarah Shnider, a midwife who assisted in the birth of numerous children in the city of Pinsk (now in Belarus) in the early 1700s.
In the 19th century, as waves of Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe to the Americas began, the Shnider surname started to appear in records from various countries. One of the earliest documented Shniders in the United States was Isaac Shnider, who arrived in New York City from Odesa (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1856.
Another notable figure was Leib Shnider, a renowned Yiddish writer and playwright born in Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine) in 1874. His plays and short stories provided a vivid portrayal of Jewish life in Eastern Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In more recent history, the Shnider surname has been carried by individuals from various fields, including author and journalist Max Shnider (1899-1976), who wrote extensively about the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe, and Soviet-born American physicist Yuri Shnider (1923-2008), known for his contributions to the field of quantum mechanics.
While the Shnider surname may have originated from humble beginnings in the tailoring trade, it has since been borne by a diverse range of individuals who have left their mark on various aspects of history and culture.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shnider
Among Census respondents with the surname Shnider, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.8%).
The bar chart below shows how Shnider bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 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 Shnider surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.5% · 92
- Black or African American3.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 4
- Two or more races2.9% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1
Timeline
Historical Census data for Shnider
Shnider appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#142,108
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
+12 bearers (+11.4%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Up 2,800 places
2020
#153,590
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 104
-13 bearers (-11.1%)
Per 100,000 0.03
Rank movement Down 11,482 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #144,908 | 105 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #142,108 | 117 | 0.04 | +12 bearers (+11.4%) | Up 2,800 places |
| 2020 | #153,590 | 104 | 0.03 | -13 bearers (-11.1%) | Down 11,482 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Shnider surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #142,108 | #153,590 | -8.1% |
| Count | 117 | 104 | -11.1% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.03 | -13.0% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Shnider bearers went from 117 to 104 (-11.1% change). The surname moved down 11,482 positions in the national ranking, going from #142,108 to #153,590.
FAQ
Shnider surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Shnider?
Name Census estimates that about 119 living Americans carry the surname Shnider. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,880,289 residents.
How common is Shnider?
Shnider ranks #153,590 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.03 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 2020 Census file counted 104 people with the surname Shnider. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (119), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.03 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.03 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 Shnider.
Has Shnider become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Shnider went from 117 recorded bearers to 104. That is a decrease of 13 (-11.1%). In the national ranking it fell from #142,108 to #153,590.
What does the Census say about the background of Shnider?
Among Census respondents with the surname Shnider, the largest self-reported group is White at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Black (3.8%) and Hispanic (3.8%). These figures come from the 2020 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 Shnider in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.5% (92 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Shnider appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (88.5%), Black (3.8%), Hispanic (3.8%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Shnider (2000, 2010, 2020).
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 Shnider mean?
A surname likely derived from a German or Yiddish occupational name for a tailor or cloth cutter. 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 2020 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 Shnider (0.03 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 common is the surname Shnider?
Find out how many people have the last name Shnider on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.