Stivers
A surname of uncertain origin, probably related to the older surname Stiver and often treated as a variant form.
The #7,534 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,979 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical dictionaries do not give a settled explanation for Stivers itself. It is usually treated as a variant or pluralized form of Stiver, a surname found in Germanic and Dutch-speaking areas; the deeper origin of Stiver may be occupational or nickname-based, but that is not certain from the evidence here. In short, Stivers appears to be a family-name form built from an older Stiver rather than a completely separate source.
History
The name is recorded in 19th-century American surname discussions, where it appears alongside Stiver as a related form. Those writers seem to have regarded it as a real but relatively uncommon surname in the United States. Modern U.S. distribution fits that picture: it survives as a low-frequency surname, especially in American records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century writers often grouped Stivers with other surnames that looked plural or modified, which suggests they noticed the name as an altered form rather than an independently explained one.
From the historical record
“at Lynn. Frederick Jump of Ashland, N. Y., failed in 1857. Dr. De Camp was a graduate of Yale. In the New York Dii-ectory I find nmeteen families of Quick ; also I\Ir. R usher, IMr. Racer, Mr. Start, ]Mr. Leap, Mr. Leaper, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Sprlngman, ]Mr. Spry, ]\Ir. Stalker, J\Ir. Stamper, Mr. Wran, ]\Ir. Went…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom