Explore the Family Name Sword

The meaning of Sword

1. English: probably a shortened form of Seward. 2. English: nickname from Middle English sword(e), swerd(e) ‘sword’, perhaps used for a swordsman or armourer. 3. Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Suaird, Ó Suairt ‘descendant of Suart’, a personal name derived from Old Norse Sigvarthr ‘victory keeper’, a cognate of Old English Sigeweard; compare Seward 2.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Sword ranked 9,408 in popularity in 2000 and fell slightly to 9,997 in 2010, showing a decrease of 6.26%. During this decade, the count of individuals with the Sword surname increased from 3,173 to 3,225, a modest growth of 1.64%. However, the proportion of this surname per 100,000 people decreased by 7.63% during the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#9,408	#9,997	-6.26%
Count	3,173	3,225	1.64%
Proportion per 100k	1.18	1.09	-7.63%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sword

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides interesting insights into the ethnic identity associated with the Sword surname. In 2000, the majority, at 93.10%, identified as White, a figure that remained almost unchanged in 2010 at 93.02%. The second largest group were those identifying as Black, making up 2.58% of the Swords in 2000 and slightly increasing to 2.64% in 2010. Ethnic identities that saw significant changes include Asian/Pacific Islanders who grew by 65.96%, and Hispanic identity which saw an increase of 40.29%. Conversely, the percentage of those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native dropped by 56.00%, while those identifying with two or more races decreased by 28.21%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.1%	93.02%	-0.09%
Black	2.58%	2.64%	2.33%
Hispanic	1.39%	1.95%	40.29%
Two or More Races	1.95%	1.4%	-28.21%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.47%	0.78%	65.96%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.5%	0.22%	-56%