Explore the Family Name Reef

The meaning of Reef

1. North German: either a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of rope, from Middle Low German reep ‘rope’, or a nickname for a feeble or very thin person, from Middle Low German ref, rif ‘body, skeleton’. This surname is very rare in Germany. 2. English: variant of Reeve.

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

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

According to the data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Reef has shown an increase from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 38,771 and increased to a rank of 38,214 by 2010. This represents a change of 1.44%. The actual count of individuals with this surname also rose over the decade, from 536 people in 2000 to 580 in 2010–an 8.21% increase. Despite these changes, the proportion per 100,000 people remained steady at 0.2.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,771	#38,214	1.44%
Count	536	580	8.21%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.2	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Reef

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Reef has also seen some shifts from 2000 to 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census. Those identifying as White made up the majority, although their percentage decreased slightly from 92.72% to 91.03%. The number of those identifying as Black saw a significant increase of 120.13%, going from 1.49% to 3.28%. There was also a notable increase among those identifying as Hispanic, from 2.05% to 2.76%. Meanwhile, individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native were no longer represented in 2010. The group identified as belonging to two or more races saw a moderate increase from 1.49% to 1.55%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	92.72%	91.03%	-1.82%
Black	1.49%	3.28%	120.13%
Hispanic	2.05%	2.76%	34.63%
Two or More Races	1.49%	1.55%	4.03%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.93%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	1.31%	0%	0%