Montoya
A Spanish surname denoting someone from the montaña or mountains.
Name Census estimates that about 599 living Americans carry the first name Montoya. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Montoya today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Montoya births was 1978 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Montoya. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
599
~ 1 in 572,211 Americans
Peak year
1978
36 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2008 SSA rank
#13,947
Tracked since 1962
Census
Montoya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 593 people with the first name Montoya, which placed it at #18,232 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,232
National first-name rank
People counted
593
593 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Montoya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Montoya is Black at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Montoya described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Montoya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American77.4% · 459
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 68
- Two or more races4.6% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 21
- White2.5% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Montoya
Montoya leans heavily female at 81.4% of total registrations, but 119 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Montoya as a male name
- Ranked #13,947 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1978 (19 births)
Montoya as a female name
- Ranked #17,946 in 2004
- 5 female births in 2004
- Peak: 1991 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Montoya on both sides of the split. Of the 596 people counted with this name, 166 were male (27.9%) and 430 were female (72.1%).
Popularity
Montoya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Montoya from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 246 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Montoya by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Montoya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Montoyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Montoya, while Georgia, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Montoya
Montoya is a Spanish given name with its origins traced back to the Medieval period in Spain. The name is believed to have been derived from the toponym "Montoya," which translates to "little mountain" in Spanish, suggesting that the earliest bearers of this name may have hailed from or lived in a mountainous region.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Montoya can be found in the 13th century, during the height of the Reconquista, when Christian kingdoms were gradually reclaiming territories from the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. One notable figure from this era was Montoya de Cuenca, a renowned military commander who played a crucial role in the conquest of Valencia in 1238.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, as Spain expanded its colonial empire across the Americas, the name Montoya traveled with Spanish settlers and conquistadors. Hernán Cortés, the famous conqueror of the Aztec Empire, had a captain named Juan de Montoya who accompanied him on his expeditions to Mexico in the early 1500s.
In the realm of literature, the name Montoya gained prominence through Miguel de Cervantes' iconic novel "Don Quixote." One of the characters, Cardenio, was revealed to have been born with the name Montoya, though his true identity was shrouded in mystery for much of the story.
The 18th century saw the rise of Gaspar de Montoya, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who ventured into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, establishing missions and documenting the indigenous cultures he encountered. His writings provided invaluable insights into the lives of the native populations of South America.
Moving into the 19th century, Montoya became a popular name among the criollo elite in several Latin American countries. One notable figure was José María Montoya, a prominent Peruvian politician and military leader who played a key role in the fight for independence from Spain in the early 1800s.
Throughout history, the name Montoya has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including artists, writers, and intellectuals. One such figure was Manuel Montoya, a renowned Mexican sculptor and painter who lived from 1858 to 1933, celebrated for his depictions of indigenous Mexican culture and traditions.
People
Montoya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Montoya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Montoya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Montoya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 599 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Montoya going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 572,211 US residents.
Is Montoya a common name?
We classify Montoya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 639 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Montoya most popular?
The single biggest year for Montoya was 1978, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Montoya is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Montoya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 593 people with the name Montoya, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,232 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Montoya in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Montoya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Montoya on both sides of the split. Of the 596 people counted with this name, 166 were male (27.9%) and 430 were female (72.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Montoya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Montoya is Black at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Montoya most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Montoya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (459 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Montoya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Montoya a female name?
Yes, 81.4% of people registered as Montoya in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Montoya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Montoya in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Montoya can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Montoya?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Montoya at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.