Graber
A German surname that likely began as a regional or occupational name, with some sources linking it to related forms like Graber/Gräber and Graber as a variant of other German names.
The #2,937 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,299 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Graber is of German form, but the old reference material supplied here does not give a single secure derivation. In German surname study, Graber can be associated with names built from similar roots such as Gräber, which may relate to a grave-digger or to other local name forms depending on region and spelling history. Because the excerpts mainly list the name among variants rather than explaining it directly, the safest reading is that it is a German surname with a likely occupational or regional background, but one that is not firmly established from these sources alone.
History
The name appears in English-language surname dictionaries as a German surname form, and it survives today in the United States in modest numbers. Historical spelling variation is common here, and related forms may have been recorded as Graber, Graaber, or Gräber depending on the country and the clerk's spelling habits. The provided excerpts do not supply a detailed family-history trail, so the broader distribution and evolution of the name should be treated cautiously.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname dictionaries, Graber is sometimes grouped with a cluster of look-alike German names rather than treated as a fully separate entry, which shows how fluid surname spelling could be before standardization.
From the historical record
“Grapes. N. Greipr (?); A. Grape; G. Graber ; Dch. Graap ; FI. Greps; p.n. ; A.S. grap (a ditch). A Prot. ref. n., Lond. 1618 Grasby. A loc. n., Lines Grattan. See Gratton Gratton. A loc. n., Devon”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)