Schafer
A German occupational surname meaning “shepherd,” from the word for sheep.
The #1,452 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,580 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Schafer comes from German Schaf, meaning “sheep,” plus the agent suffix -er, so the name literally means “shepherd” or “sheep-tender.” Historical sources also connect it with Middle High German and Old High German forms of the same word. Related spellings with umlauts or doubled consonants arose from regional spelling habits rather than a different meaning.
History
This is a very common German surname and appears in many spellings, including Schaefer, Schaeffer, and Schaffer. It was carried by German-speaking migrants to North America and elsewhere, where the umlaut-less form Schafer became standard in many records. The name is closely paralleled by Dutch forms meaning the same thing, which helped it spread across Germanic-language areas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older German orthography, the umlaut in Schäfer was often replaced in English-language records by ae, which is why both Schäfer and Schaefer are common today.
From the historical record
“SCHAEFER SCHAEFFER SCHAFER SCHAFFER Morose [M.H.Ger. O.H.Ger. jdr] (Ger.) Shepherd [Ger. schdfer;- f. (with agent, suff. -er) schaf, M.H.Ger. sch&f, O.H.Ger. scAf,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Schafer
- Hunter Schafer (b. 1998)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.