Explore the Family Name Octave

The meaning of Octave

French and West Indian (mainly Haiti): patronymic from the French personal name Octave, from Latin Octavius (from octavus ‘eight’). Octavius was a Roman imperial surname, the gens name of the Roman Emperor Augustus.

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

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

According to data based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Octave has seen a significant increase in popularity over the last decade. In 2000, it was ranked 76,946 in terms of prevalence and rose to rank 56,972 by 2010, marking an upward shift of nearly 26%. The count of people with this surname also increased from 232 to 358 during the same period, reflecting a growth rate of more than 54%. Consequently, the proportion of individuals named Octave per 100,000 people increased by approximately 33%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#76,946	#56,972	25.96%
Count	232	358	54.31%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.12	33.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Octave

The ethnicity distribution for the surname Octave shows some interesting trends as well, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. A significant majority of those bearing the surname identify as Black, with the proportion increasing slightly from 79.74% in 2000 to 84.36% in 2010. The percentage of individuals identifying as White decreased from 15.09% to 11.73% during the same period. There was also a slight increase in the number of individuals identifying as Hispanic, while the percentage of those claiming two or more races declined by almost half. No individuals identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	79.74%	84.36%	5.79%
White	15.09%	11.73%	-22.27%
Two or More Races	4.31%	2.23%	-48.26%
Hispanic	0%	1.68%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%