Given name & surname
Sumpter
“carrier, or driver of pack animals”
Sumpter is a surname from Middle English.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Sumpter goes back to Middle English sumpter, meaning “carrier, or driver of pack animals.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Middle English sumpter (“carrier, or driver of pack animals”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1892. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sumpter through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 49
- 49 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1931
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1953. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 9 in 1931. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 7,645 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Similar names
If you love Sumpter, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Sumner
“a legal official; one who serves summons”
82% boys · 18% girls
Lancaster
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“one who gathers or keeps grain”
83% boys · 17% girls
Sanford
“from the sandy crossing”
>99% boys
Heard
“herd”
>99% boys
Milner
“miller”
>99% boys
Fowler
“one who traps birds”
>99% boys