Explore the Family Name Gleave

The meaning of Gleave

English (Lancashire and Cheshire): nickname from Middle English gleyve, gleve ‘lance’ (Old French glaive, gleive), used for a spearman or for the winner in a race in which the lance set up as a winning post was given as a prize. See Gleaves.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Gleave in the United States?

The surname Gleave saw an increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it was the 32,782nd most common surname, but by 2010, it had risen to the 32,169th spot, reflecting a change of 1.87%. The number of individuals with the surname Gleave also experienced an increase during this period, rising from 660 in 2000 to 717 in 2010. Despite these changes, the proportion of people with the Gleave surname per 100,000 remained constant at 0.24.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#32,782	#32,169	1.87%
Count	660	717	8.64%
Proportion per 100k	0.24	0.24	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gleave

Ethnically, the majority of individuals with the Gleave surname identified as White, based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census. However, there was a slight decrease in this group from 96.21% in 2000 to 94.70% in 2010. The percentage of individuals identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase, rising from 1.36% in 2000 to 2.51% in 2010. The group identifying as two or more races also increased from 0.76% to 1.12%. Interestingly, in 2010, there was a new entry of American Indian and Alaskan Native representation within the Gleave surname bearers. There were no individuals who identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or Black in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.21%	94.7%	-1.57%
Hispanic	1.36%	2.51%	84.56%
Two or More Races	0.76%	1.12%	47.37%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	1.12%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%