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

Araya, 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 Araya surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Araya in America

Araya is the 11476th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Araya surname appeared 2,742 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 Araya.

We can also compare 2010 data for Araya 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 Araya

The surname Araya originated in the Canary Islands, an archipelago located off the northwestern coast of Africa and belonging to Spain. Its roots can be traced back to the 15th century, when the islands were conquered by the Crown of Castile. The name is believed to derive from the Guanche language, spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of the Canaries before the Spanish conquest.

One theory suggests that Araya is derived from the Guanche word "araña," meaning "valley" or "ravine." Another possibility is that it evolved from the Guanche term "aray," which referred to a type of plant or tree native to the islands. The earliest recorded instances of the surname appear in official documents from the late 15th and early 16th centuries, such as land registries and census records.

In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the Araya surname was Pedro de Araya, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Peru under Francisco Pizarro. Pedro de Araya was born in the late 15th century on the island of Tenerife and died around 1550 in Peru. Another early bearer of the name was Juan de Araya, a Guanche leader who fought against the Spanish invasion of the Canary Islands in the late 15th century.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Araya surname began to spread beyond the Canary Islands as families migrated to various regions of Spain and its overseas territories. One prominent individual from this period was Diego de Araya y Carvajal, a Spanish soldier and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Havana, Cuba, from 1679 to 1683.

In the 19th century, a notable figure with the Araya surname was José Araya, a Chilean poet and journalist born in 1845. Araya's poetic works were influential in the development of the Chilean literary tradition, and he is remembered as one of the country's most important writers of the era.

Another significant bearer of the name was Gregorio Araya Gamboa, a Chilean military officer and politician who served as the Minister of War and Navy from 1901 to 1903. Gamboa played a crucial role in the modernization of Chile's armed forces during the early 20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Araya

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

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 Araya 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 Araya 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 Araya was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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