2000
#131,366
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 119
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.04
Very Rare Last name
Syphax
A surname derived from the Greek name Syphax, referring to an ancient Numidian king.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Syphax. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Syphax 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
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Syphax in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Syphax, the largest self-reported group is Black at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (24.8%) and White (22.2%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Syphax
The surname SYPHAX is of Berber origin and can be traced back to the ancient Numidian ruler Syphax, who lived in the 3rd century BC in what is now modern-day Algeria and Tunisia. The name itself is derived from the Berber word "sif-aks," meaning "he who loves horses."
Syphax was a powerful and influential king of the Masaesylian tribe, one of the two major Berber kingdoms in ancient Numidia. He was an ally of the Carthaginian general Hannibal during the Second Punic War against the Roman Republic. Syphax's name appears in several ancient Roman and Greek historical texts, including works by Polybius and Livy.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the surname SYPHAX can be found in the 14th century, when a man named Syphax ibn Abdallah was mentioned in a medieval Arabic manuscript as a scholar and poet from the city of Tlemcen, which was part of the Zayyanid Kingdom in present-day western Algeria.
Another notable figure with the surname SYPHAX was Sidi Syphax, a 16th-century Moroccan scholar and religious leader who was born in Fez. He is renowned for his work in Islamic jurisprudence and his contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the Moroccan city.
In the 17th century, a man named Syphax Bey was a prominent military commander and governor in the Ottoman province of Algiers, which covered much of modern-day Algeria and Tunisia. He played a significant role in the region's resistance against Spanish and French invasions.
During the 19th century, a French explorer and writer named Syphax Duarte gained recognition for his accounts of his travels in North Africa and the Middle East. He was born in Algeria in 1823 and published several books detailing his experiences and observations of the people, cultures, and landscapes he encountered.
Another notable figure with the surname SYPHAX was Syphax al-Tayyib, a Sudanese scholar and educator who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was instrumental in establishing modern educational institutions in Sudan and promoting the study of Arabic language and literature.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Syphax
Among Census respondents with the surname Syphax, the largest self-reported group is Black at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (24.8%) and White (22.2%).
The bar chart below shows how Syphax 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 Syphax surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.7% · 50
- Two or more races24.8% · 29
- White22.2% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
Timeline
Historical Census data for Syphax
Syphax 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
#139,228
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 120
+1 bearers (+0.8%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 7,862 places
2020
#144,270
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 117
-3 bearers (-2.5%)
Per 100,000 0.04
Rank movement Down 5,042 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #131,366 | 119 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #139,228 | 120 | 0.04 | +1 bearers (+0.8%) | Down 7,862 places |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | -3 bearers (-2.5%) | Down 5,042 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 Syphax 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 | #139,228 | #144,270 | -3.6% |
| Count | 120 | 117 | -2.5% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -2.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Syphax bearers went from 120 to 117 (-2.5% change). The surname moved down 5,042 positions in the national ranking, going from #139,228 to #144,270.
FAQ
Syphax surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Syphax?
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Syphax. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
How common is Syphax?
Syphax ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 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 117 people with the surname Syphax. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.04 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 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 Syphax.
Has Syphax become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Syphax went from 120 recorded bearers to 117. That is a decrease of 3 (-2.5%). In the national ranking it fell from #139,228 to #144,270.
What does the Census say about the background of Syphax?
Among Census respondents with the surname Syphax, the largest self-reported group is Black at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (24.8%) and White (22.2%). 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?
Black is the largest self-reported group for the surname Syphax in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (50 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Syphax appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Black (42.7%), Two or More Races (24.8%), White (22.2%). 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 Syphax (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 Syphax mean?
A surname derived from the Greek name Syphax, referring to an ancient Numidian king. 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 Syphax (0.04 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 many people have the last name Syphax?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the surname Syphax at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.