Niven is used as a family name or surname in Ireland, Scotland. It is 5 characters long in length.

Family Name / Last Name: Niven
No. of characters: 5
Origin: Ireland, Scotland
Meaning:

Niven is form of the Nam. Common terminations, especially in America, as Wornum, Barnum, Clennam, Putnam, Varnum, Hannum-corruptions of local names in-ham when an N precedes that desinence.

The surname is the form of Nen. Descendant of Neu meaning "new," a pet form of names like Neubert, Neufred and Neuhardt; the young person.

Niven is variant form of Nevins. Grandson of Cnaimhin meaning "little bone"; the son of Naoimhin meaning "little saint".

Niven is variant of Knife. From Cniva, an early Gothic name, of which Knevett is a diminutive. Knif in Hundred Rolls.

How popular is Niven?

Niven is common in United States, Australia, Scotland, England, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa.

Niven is ranked 60973 on our list.

Despite the fact that the number of Niven bearers increased by 2.54 per cent in 2010 US census to 1334 since 2000, the surname slipped by 775 spots and ranked at 20047. The last name was found in around 4 per million population. Please refer to following table for race and ethnicity.

Race 2010 2000
White 95.95 94.47
Others 1.35 1.15
Niven is quite popular family name mostly used in United States while Guernsey is ahead in terms of density. Around 8253 people have been found who wears Niven as their family name. Niven is used widely across the globe. More detailed information can be found below:
RankCountryCount
Countries with thousands of Niven:
18,946 United States1,894
2,284 Australia1,674
607 Scotland1,557
5,091 England1,416
Countries with hundreds of Niven:
5,942 Canada752
2,365 New Zealand333
30,363 South Africa168
Countries with low frequency i.e., 50 - 100:
5,360 Wales52
Countries with very low frequency i.e., 10 - 50:
10,676 Kuwait39
3,664 Paraguay37
7,666 Singapore30
25,178 Israel30
539 Guernsey29
90,467 Argentina25
45,241 Papua New Guinea24
59,312 Malaysia21
68,885 Netherlands15
37,743 Mexico14
72,236 Spain12
Countries with very very low frequency i.e., 6 - 10:
9,341 Northern Ireland10
684,495 India9
81,336 Sweden9
69,697 Switzerland7
34,489 Peru7
340,600 Germany6
18,437 Solomon Islands6
Show Full Last Name Distribution

Immigrants to US

From Ireland

Robert Niven worked as workman and hailed from Ireland. During the great famine, 32 years old embarked for USA from Glasgow on Harmonia and arrived on August 23, 1850. Mary Niven, aged 26, Margaret Niven (25) Immigrant, John Niven, aged 53, Isabella Niven (39) Immigrant, Isabella Niven, aged 10, John Niven (8), Margaret Niven, aged 6, Douglass Niven (4), are other Niven that migrated to US.

Niven Namesakes

  • Ivan M. Niven, Canadian-American mathematician
  • Archibald C. Niven, U.S. Representative from New York
  • William Niven, mineralogist and archeologist noted for his discovery of the minerals yttrialite
  • Larry Niven, American science fiction writer
  • David Niven, English actor, memoirist and novelist
  • Derek Niven, Scottish professional footballer

Niven Namesakes

  • Ivan M. Niven, Canadian-American mathematician
  • Archibald C. Niven, U.S. Representative from New York
  • William Niven, mineralogist and archeologist noted for his discovery of the minerals yttrialite
  • Larry Niven, American science fiction writer
  • David Niven, English actor, memoirist and novelist
  • Derek Niven, Scottish professional footballer

Related Family Names: