Explore the Family Name Washer
The meaning of Washer
1. English: from Middle English washer(e) ‘one who washes (something)’, hence an occupational name for a laundryman, or for someone who washed raw wool before spinning. Various other occupations, too, involved washing processes and the name may relate to any of these. For example, it may have denoted a man who washed sheep; some tenants on the manor of Burpham, near Worthing, in Sussex (where the surname is found from an early date), had as part of their feudal service to wash the flocks of their master. 2. Americanized form of German Wascher, a cognate of 1 above.
Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.
How common is the last name Washer in the United States?
According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname "Washer" has seen a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, the name was ranked 16,184th in popularity, but by 2010 it had slipped to 17,565th, marking an 8.53% decrease. The number of individuals carrying the Washer surname also dipped from 1,642 in 2000 to 1,601 in 2010, a change of roughly -2.5%. In terms of proportion per 100k people, there was an 11.48% drop from 0.61 to 0.54.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #16,184 | #17,565 | -8.53% |
| Count | 1,642 | 1,601 | -2.5% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.61 | 0.54 | -11.48% |
Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Washer
When it comes to ethnicity, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that the majority of people with the last name Washer identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, though this percentage decreased slightly from 94.58% to 93.19% over the decade. The percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native also saw decreases. However, there were increases in the percentages of those who identify as Two or More Races (up by 123.88%), Hispanic (up by 27.87%) and Black (up by 27.63%). This suggests that the ethnic diversity among individuals with the Washer surname is increasing over time.
| 2000 | 2010 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 94.58% | 93.19% | -1.47% |
| Black | 1.52% | 1.94% | 27.63% |
| Hispanic | 1.22% | 1.56% | 27.87% |
| Two or More Races | 0.67% | 1.5% | 123.88% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 1.04% | 0.94% | -9.62% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.97% | 0.87% | -10.31% |