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

Silver, 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 Silver surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Silver in America

Silver is the 1632nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Silver surname appeared 22,052 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Silver.

We can also compare 2010 data for Silver 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 Silver

The surname Silver originates from England and dates back to the late 12th century. It is a locational name derived from places called Silver, such as Silver Street in London or the village of Silver in Suffolk. These place names likely refer to areas where silver was mined, traded, or where silversmiths worked.

The name Silver is believed to have been first recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Staffordshire in 1199, where a Randulph de Sylvere was mentioned. In the Hundred Rolls of 1273, a William de Silvere from Oxfordshire was listed. The variant spelling Silvere was common in early records.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was John Silver, a prominent merchant and alderman in London during the 14th century. He was mentioned in various city records and served as the Sheriff of London in 1386.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Bartholomew Silver, a wealthy landowner and member of Parliament for Hertfordshire in the early 15th century. He was born around 1380 and died in 1451.

During the 16th century, the Silver family established themselves as wealthy merchants and landowners in Suffolk. William Silver (1492-1558) was a successful wool merchant and served as Mayor of Ipswich in 1542.

In the literary world, Thomas Silver (1570-1616) was an English poet and playwright who was part of the literary circle around William Shakespeare. His works include the play "Paradoxes of Honour and Love" and several poems.

Not to be overlooked is the infamous pirate Captain Silver from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island" published in 1883. While a fictional character, the name has become synonymous with piracy and adventure.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Silver

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

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!