Explore the Family Name Schiefer

The meaning of Schiefer

1. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a roofer, from Middle High German schiver ‘splinter (stone or wood)’, Middle Low German schiver ‘slate, shingle’, German Schiefer ‘slate’. 2. German (Lower Rhine): variant of Schaefer. Some characteristic forenames: German Manfred, Bernhard, Eberhard, Konrad, Otto, Ulrich, Wolfgang.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Schiefer has seen a decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname ranked 20,436 in popularity but slid to 27,646 in 2010, marking a significant change of -35.28%. The count of individuals with this surname also fell from 1,208 in 2000 to 870 in 2010, a drop of approximately 28%. The proportion of individuals named Schiefer per 100,000 people decreased by 35.56% over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,436	#27,646	-35.28%
Count	1,208	870	-27.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.45	0.29	-35.56%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Schiefer

In terms of ethnic identity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census indicates shifts among those carrying the Schiefer surname between 2000 and 2010. There has been an increase in the percentage of individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and those claiming two or more races, with changes of 56.06% and 132.32% respectively. The proportion of individuals under the White category decreased by 4.18%. Meanwhile, there was a considerable rise in the Hispanic category of 82.08%. For the categories Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native, the data was suppressed for privacy.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.61%	91.61%	-4.18%
Hispanic	2.4%	4.37%	82.08%
Two or More Races	0.99%	2.3%	132.32%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.66%	1.03%	56.06%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%