Explore the Family Name Snape
The meaning of Snape
English: 1. habitational name from Middle English snap (Old Norse snap) ‘poor pasture or winter pasture’. Of the many minor placenames containing this word in northern England it was most probably Snape in Ormskirk (Lancashire), Snape in Well (North Yorkshire), or Snape in Sowerby (Yorkshire) that gave rise to the surname. 2. from Middle English snap, snep (Old English snæp) possibly meaning ‘boggy piece of land’. This may be the source of Snape in Suffolk and of numerous minor places called Snap or Snape in Cheshire, Devon, Nottinghamshire, Sussex, and Wiltshire, but it is difficult to tell this apart from the word in 1 above. Snape (Farm) in Weston (Cheshire) is the likely source of the surname in Staffordshire, while one or other of the Sussex places gave rise to the Sussex surname Snepp. In Sussex the dialect term snape is still used to denote an area of boggy, uncultivable land.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Snape in the United States?
Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Snape has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Snape was ranked as the 39,678th most popular surname, but by 2010 it had dropped to the 42,163rd spot, marking a 6.26% decrease in ranking. The actual count of people with the surname Snape also experienced a marginal reduction, from 521 in 2000 to 515 in 2010, a decline of 1.15%. This resulted in a proportional decrease per 100,000 people from 0.19 in 2000 to 0.17 in 2010, which is a fall of 10.53%.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #39,678 | #42,163 | -6.26% |
| Count | 521 | 515 | -1.15% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.19 | 0.17 | -10.53% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Snape
In terms of ethnic identity, the surname Snape encompasses a diverse range of identities, as recorded in the Decennial U.S. Census. While there were no individuals identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010, there were shifts among other ethnicities. The proportion of individuals identifying as White decreased from 65.83% in 2000 to 60.00% in 2010, a change of -8.86%. Conversely, those identifying as Black increased from 24.57% in 2000 to 28.93% in 2010, a substantial increase of 17.75%. Those identifying as two or more races also saw an uptick, from 2.88% in 2000 to 3.30% in 2010, marking an increase of 14.58%. Lastly, the percentage of individuals of Hispanic ethnicity experienced a slight growth from 5.95% in 2000 to 6.41% in 2010, an increase of 7.73%.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 65.83% | 60% | -8.86% |
| Black | 24.57% | 28.93% | 17.75% |
| Hispanic | 5.95% | 6.41% | 7.73% |
| Two or More Races | 2.88% | 3.3% | 14.58% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0% | 0% | 0% |