2000
#10,680
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,747
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.02
Rare Last name
Shoffner
A German occupational surname referring to a cobbler, derived from the Middle High German word "schuochbuozaere" meaning shoemaker.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,187 Americans carry the last name Shoffner. That puts it at #10,948 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.93 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 107,548 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Shoffner 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
3.2K
1 in 107,548
Census rank
#10,948
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.9
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.8K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,779 bearers of the surname Shoffner in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.93 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 10948th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Shoffner, the largest self-reported group is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Two or More Races (4.0%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Shoffner
The surname Shoffner is believed to have originated in Germany, with its roots dating back to the 16th century. It is thought to be derived from the German word "Schöffe," which refers to a type of alderman or judge responsible for dispensing justice in local communities.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Shoffner can be found in the 17th century court records of the town of Freiburg, where a man named Hans Shoffner is listed as serving as a Schöffe in the year 1632.
During the 18th century, the name began to spread across various regions of Germany, with families bearing the Shoffner surname appearing in places like Bavaria, Saxony, and the Rhineland.
As German immigrants started arriving in North America in the 19th century, the Shoffner name made its way to the New World. One notable early bearer of the name was Johann Shoffner, who was born in Hesse in 1812 and emigrated to the United States in 1846, eventually settling in Ohio.
Another prominent figure in the history of the Shoffner name was Wilhelm Shoffner, a German-American businessman who founded the Shoffner Brewing Company in Philadelphia in 1872. The brewery operated until the early 20th century and played a significant role in the city's thriving beer industry at the time.
In the realm of academia, Dr. Hildegard Shoffner, born in 1896 in Berlin, made significant contributions to the field of linguistics. She served as a professor at several prestigious universities in Europe and the United States before her death in 1982.
The Shoffner name has also left its mark in the arts, with notable figures like the American painter and sculptor Robert Shoffner, who was born in 1923 and gained recognition for his abstract expressionist works during the mid-20th century.
While the origins of the Shoffner surname can be traced back to Germany, it has since spread across the globe, with bearers of the name found in various countries and cultures, each contributing to the rich tapestry of its history and legacy.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shoffner
Among Census respondents with the surname Shoffner, the largest self-reported group is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Two or More Races (4.0%).
The bar chart below shows how Shoffner 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 Shoffner surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.1% · 2,031
- Black or African American18.2% · 505
- Two or more races4.0% · 111
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 108
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Timeline
Historical Census data for Shoffner
Shoffner 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
#10,942
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,910
+163 bearers (+5.9%)
Per 100,000 0.99
Rank movement Down 262 places
2020
#10,948
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,779
-131 bearers (-4.5%)
Per 100,000 0.93
Rank movement Down 6 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #10,680 | 2,747 | 1.02 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #10,942 | 2,910 | 0.99 | +163 bearers (+5.9%) | Down 262 places |
| 2020 | #10,948 | 2,779 | 0.93 | -131 bearers (-4.5%) | Down 6 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 Shoffner 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 | #10,942 | #10,948 | -0.1% |
| Count | 2,910 | 2,779 | -4.5% |
| Per 100K | 0.99 | 0.93 | -6.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Shoffner bearers went from 2,910 to 2,779 (-4.5% change). The surname moved down 6 positions in the national ranking, going from #10,942 to #10,948.
FAQ
Shoffner surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Shoffner?
Name Census estimates that about 3,187 living Americans carry the surname Shoffner. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 107,548 residents.
How common is Shoffner?
Shoffner ranks #10,948 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.93 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,779 people with the surname Shoffner. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,187), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.93 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.93 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Shoffner.
Has Shoffner become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Shoffner went from 2,910 recorded bearers to 2,779. That is a decrease of 131 (-4.5%). In the national ranking it fell from #10,942 to #10,948.
What does the Census say about the background of Shoffner?
Among Census respondents with the surname Shoffner, the largest self-reported group is White at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Black (18.2%) and Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Shoffner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (2,031 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Shoffner appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (73.1%), Black (18.2%), Two or More Races (4.0%). 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 Shoffner (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 Shoffner mean?
A German occupational surname referring to a cobbler, derived from the Middle High German word "schuochbuozaere" meaning shoemaker. 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 Shoffner (0.93 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 Shoffner?
See how many people have the last name Shoffner on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.