Explore the Family Name Rapier

The meaning of Rapier

1. Dutch: perhaps from Middle Dutch rapiere ‘foil, sword’, for someone carrying such a weapon, or form a topographic name Raepier ‘land on which rapes are grown’. 2. English: variant of Roper.

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

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

The surname Rapier has seen an increase in popularity from 2000 to 2010, according to data from the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it was ranked 17,260th in popularity, but by 2010, its rank improved to 16,601, a change of approximately 3.82 percent. The count of individuals with this surname also increased from 1,510 in 2000 to 1,727 in 2010, marking a growth rate of 14.37 percent. The proportion per 100,000 people also slightly increased by 5.36 percent during this decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,260	#16,601	3.82%
Count	1,510	1,727	14.37%
Proportion per 100k	0.56	0.59	5.36%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Rapier

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the ethnic identity associated with the surname Rapier experienced some changes between 2000 and 2010. The proportion of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander remained stable at 0.46 percent. However, the percentage of individuals reporting two or more races increased by 31.16 percent. Those identifying as White made up the majority, though their proportion declined slightly from 82.12 percent to 81.24 percent. Meanwhile, there was a significant rise of 69.19 percent in the proportion of individuals identifying as Hispanic. The share of those identifying as Black decreased by 8.54 percent, while the representation of American Indian and Alaskan Native increased by 26.09 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
White	82.12%	81.24%	-1.07%
Black	13.11%	11.99%	-8.54%
Hispanic	1.85%	3.13%	69.19%
Two or More Races	1.99%	2.61%	31.16%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.46%	0.58%	26.09%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.46%	0.46%	0%