Find out how popular the last name Abella is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Abella.

Abella, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Abella surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Abella in America

Abella is the 13874th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Abella surname appeared 2,177 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Abella.

We can also compare 2010 data for Abella to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Abella

The surname Abella originated in Spain during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Latin word 'abella', meaning 'bee'. The name likely referred to someone who kept bees or lived near a place where bees were plentiful.

In the late 13th century, the name Abella appeared in records from the region of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. The earliest known bearer was Guillem Abella, a landowner mentioned in a document from the town of Lleida in 1287.

The name spread throughout Spain in the following centuries. Variations in spelling included Avella, Abela, and Abelho. Some of these forms were influenced by the Catalan and Galician languages.

In the 16th century, the name Abella was found in the village of Villanueva de la Abella, located in the province of Zamora. This place name likely originated from the surname itself, suggesting a family with this name had lived there.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Abella was Pedro Abella, a scholar born in Valencia in 1509. He wrote several works on philosophy and theology.

Another notable bearer was Fray Tomás Abella, a Franciscan monk born in Zaragoza in 1652. He was a celebrated preacher and author of religious texts.

In the 18th century, José Abella y Casadevante (1718-1796) was a Spanish military officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General.

During the 19th century, Joaquín Abella y Casariego (1788-1855) was a Spanish lawyer and politician who served as a deputy in the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament.

An early 20th-century bearer was Arturo Abella y Ramirez (1884-1964), a Cuban-born architect who designed several notable buildings in Havana, including the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Abella

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Abella.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Abella was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Abella has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Abella was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Abella, please contact us.

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