Explore the Family Name Grinder

The meaning of Grinder

English (Middlesex and Sussex): occupational name for a grinder of grain, i.e. a miller, from Middle English grinder ‘grinder of corn, miller’ (Old English grindere), an agent noun from Old English grindan ‘to grind’. Less often it may have referred to someone who ground blades to keep their sharpness or who ground pigments, spices, and medicinal herbs to powder.

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

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

Based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Grinder" has seen a slight decrease in rank from 19,242 in 2000 to 19,306 in 2010, a change of -0.33%. However, the count of individuals with the Grinder surname increased by 7.52% from 1,304 in 2000 to 1,402 in 2010. The proportion per 100k people remained steady at 0.48.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#19,242	#19,306	-0.33%
Count	1,304	1,402	7.52%
Proportion per 100k	0.48	0.48	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Grinder

The ethnic identity tied to the Grinder surname also experienced some changes between 2000 and 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. The percentage of individuals identifying as White decreased slightly from 94.86% to 92.80%, while those identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase from 0.61% to 2.14%. Those identifying as Black also saw an increase from 1.61% to 2.14%. The percentage of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native both declined, with Asian/Pacific Islander going from 0.46% to 0.43% and American Indian/Alaskan Native decreasing from 0.84% to 0.71%. Individuals identifying as two or more races increased from 1.61% to 1.78%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.86%	92.8%	-2.17%
Hispanic	0.61%	2.14%	250.82%
Black	1.61%	2.14%	32.92%
Two or More Races	1.61%	1.78%	10.56%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.84%	0.71%	-15.48%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.46%	0.43%	-6.52%