Explore the Family Name Officer
The meaning of Officer
1. Scottish and English: occupational name from Older Scots officiar, Middle English officer ‘servant, retainer’ and ‘officer’ in any of various senses. A kirk officiar in Scotland was an ‘officer charged with keeping order in the church and with enforcing church discipline in the parish’ or ‘beadle or church-servant’. In both Scotland and England the word officer was also used to denote the manager of an estate. 2. English: perhaps a shortened form of Old French orfroisier, Anglo-Norman French, Middle English orfreiser ‘maker of orphrey (gold-thread embroidery)’. Compare Offer 1.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Officer in the United States?
Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the Officer surname has seen a slight shift in the United States over the past decade. In 2000, the surname ranked 19,272 in terms of popularity with a count of 1,301 individuals bearing this name. By 2010, it had slipped to rank 19,814 with an increased count of 1,357 individuals, marking a 4.3% increase in the number of Officers but a -2.81% drop in rank. The proportion per 100,000 people also declined slightly from 0.48 in 2000 to 0.46 in 2010, a decrease of around 4.17%.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #19,272 | #19,814 | -2.81% |
| Count | 1,301 | 1,357 | 4.3% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.48 | 0.46 | -4.17% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Officer
When it comes to ethnicity, the distribution for the Officer surname has seen some notable changes between 2000 and 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, 69.41% of Officers identified as White, dropping to 66.25% in 2010. People identifying as Black remained relatively stable at 26.59% in 2000 and 26.60% in 2010. There was a substantial increase in those identifying as Hispanic, moving from 1.15% in 2000 to 3.68% in 2010, marking a remarkable 220% change. The percentage of Officers identifying as two or more races saw a minor increase, rising from 2.31% in 2000 to 2.51% in 2010. There were no recorded instances of Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities among Officers in either year.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 69.41% | 66.25% | -4.55% |
| Black | 26.59% | 26.6% | 0.04% |
| Hispanic | 1.15% | 3.68% | 220% |
| Two or More Races | 2.31% | 2.51% | 8.66% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0% | 0% | 0% |