Explore the Family Name Shirer

The meaning of Shirer

1. Americanized form of German Scheurer and possibly also of some other German name. 2. Scottish (Aberdeenshire): variant of Shearer. 3. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a barber, a Yiddish dialect variant of Sherer 2.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Shirer has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Shirer was ranked as the 30,791st most popular surname in the U.S., with 714 occurrences. By 2010, however, the rank had dropped to 35,096, and the count reduced to 642, marking a decrease of nearly 11%. The proportion of the surname per 100,000 people also dipped by approximately 15%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#30,791	#35,096	-13.98%
Count	714	642	-10.08%
Proportion per 100k	0.26	0.22	-15.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Shirer

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Shirer showed some changes over the same decade, based on the information from the Decennial U.S. Census. White identity remains the most prevalent ethnicity associated with the surname, accounting for 85.57% in 2000, which slightly decreased to 84.42% in 2010. The Black population saw a noticeable increase of nearly 21%, rising from 11.20% to 13.55%. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic fell by nearly 19%, while the Asian/Pacific Islander category dropped entirely. There were no significant changes in the categories of "Two or more races" and "American Indian and Alaskan Native", with both recording zero percent in both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	85.57%	84.42%	-1.34%
Black	11.2%	13.55%	20.98%
Hispanic	1.54%	1.25%	-18.83%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.98%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%