Explore the Family Name Scrimshaw

The meaning of Scrimshaw

English: occupational name from Middle English skirmesour ‘fencing master’ (Old French escremisseor). Compare Champion.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname "Scrimshaw" has seen a slight increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 97,848 in terms of most common surnames but jumped 177 places to rank 97,671 in 2010, reflecting a growth rate of 0.18%. The count of people carrying this surname also rose from 172 in 2000 to 186 in 2010, marking an 8.14% increase. Notably, despite these shifts, the proportion of the name per 100,000 people remained constant at 0.06.

20002010Change
Rank#97,848#97,6710.18%
Count1721868.14%
Proportion per 100k0.060.060%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Scrimshaw

The ethnic identity associated with the Scrimshaw surname underwent some transformations as well from 2000 to 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. Most notably, the percentage of individuals identifying as white decreased from 97.09% to 91.40%, a change of -5.86%. Meanwhile, the ethnicity data for 2010 shows the addition of two new groups: those identifying as Hispanic (3.76%) and those recognizing themselves as belonging to two or more races (3.23%). For the categories Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native, however, the figures remained unchanged.

20002010Change
White97.09%91.4%-5.86%
Hispanic0%3.76%0%
Two or More Races0%3.23%0%
Asian/Pacific Islander0%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%