The Seaver surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 3,384 people carried this name — #9,603 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 87,000 people counted. That is down 1% from 3,403 in 2000.

Look up another surname

Share

What the name means

The meaning of the Seaver surname

From the medieval personal name Sefare, a continuation of an unattested Old English female name composed of the elements sǣ (“sea”) + faru (“journey”).

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Seaver» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a nickname: ‘the severe’.

An early record he cites: John le Severe, Huntingdonshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls.

His entry covers Severe, Sever and Seaver.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 679 · public domain.

In print

Seaver in American newspapers,
1904–1922.

Newspaper page from The Morning Tulsa Daily World carrying the name Seaver
The Morning Tulsa Daily World 1922-12-15
Newspaper page from The Mt. Sterling Advocate carrying the name Seaver
The Mt. Sterling Advocate 1904-03-30
Newspaper page from Tulsa Daily World carrying the name Seaver
Tulsa Daily World 1911-04-27

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 40,339 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Seaver in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1950s.

1,888 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Seaver. The most, 699, date from the 1880s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in New South Wales, at 1.9 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 1,143
Victoria 395
South Australia 157
Queensland 120
Western Australia 60
Tasmania 8
ACT (Canberra) 2

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Seaver.

Who carried it

People named Seaver,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Ebenezer Seaver
    Ebenezer Seaver 1763–1844 · politician
  • Mary Ann Duff
    Mary Ann Duff 1794–1857 · actor
  • Mary Ann Duff
    Mary Ann Duff 1794–1857 · actor
  • William Seaver
    William Seaver 1806–1887 · politician
  • Nathaniel Seaver
    Nathaniel Seaver 1807–1890 · politician
  • Elizabeth Seaver d. 1793

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Seaver,
in the records of 3 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States415 records

415 records of the Seaver name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 136
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 127
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 77
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 50
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 13
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 11
  • Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Cecil P. Seaver

    Born 1918 in Washington. Enlisted 1942 at Spokane; metal worker from Shoshone County, Idaho. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1998, buried at Willamette National Cemetery, Oregon.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Anne Seaver

    Arrived at New York in 1853 aboard the Columbia from Liverpool, aged 25; servant. From Ireland.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
  3. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record Gary Robert Seaver

    U.S. Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War. Born 1952, died 2001; buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, Newport, New Hampshire.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)

Showing 3 of 415 records for Seaver in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain).

Australia30 records

30 records of the Seaver name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 26
  • Queensland State Archives indexes 3
  • Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 1
  1. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Charles R. Seaver

    Arrived in Victoria in 1887 aboard the Port Pirie, aged 25; Irish.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A petition to the probate court of St. Louis, 1848
    Example: probate petition, 1848
    Probate record Maria N. Seaver

    Of St Arnaud, Victoria; died 1883.

    Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Jonathan Charles Billing Seaver

    Took out a mineral lease at Crocodile Creek, Queensland in 1887.

    Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 30 records for Seaver in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Canada1 record

1 record of the Seaver name in Canada Nova Scotia Archives name indexes
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record James Seaver

    Listed at Macan, Cumberland, Nova Scotia in the census and tax rolls of 1827.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Seaver.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Seaver is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Seaver volume
Scroll to Top