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

Alvarez, 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 Alvarez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Alvarez in America

Alvarez is the 153769th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Alvarez surname appeared 106 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Alvarez.

The history of the last name Alvarez

The surname Avarez is of Spanish origin, derived from the medieval Iberian given name "Álvaro," which itself likely comes from the Germanic name "Alferus" or "Alfher." This name was initially popular among the Visigoths who ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th centuries AD.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Avarez can be traced back to the Kingdom of Castile in the 13th century. Historical records, such as the Libro de las Behetrías de Castilla, mention individuals with variations of the name like Alvarez, Alvariz, and Alvaraiz.

One of the earliest notable figures with the Avarez surname was Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, a 13th-century Castilian nobleman and military leader who served under King Alfonso X and played a crucial role in the conquest of Murcia from the Moors in 1266.

In the 15th century, the Avarez name gained prominence with Álvaro de Ávila, a Spanish nobleman and military leader who fought alongside the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, during the Reconquista and the conquest of Granada in 1492.

The Avarez surname also has historical ties to Portugal, where it was sometimes spelled as Alvares or Alvaraez. One notable Portuguese figure was Fernão Álvares de Oriente, a 16th-century explorer and author who wrote detailed accounts of his travels in Asia, including the first European description of the city of Malacca.

In the New World, the Avarez surname was brought by Spanish colonists and can be found in colonial records from the 16th century onwards. One notable early example is Juan Álvarez, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s.

Other historically significant figures with the Avarez surname include Manuel Álvarez Bravo, a renowned 20th-century Mexican photographer known for his black-and-white photographs capturing the spirit of Mexican culture and society, and Tomás Álvarez, a 19th-century Chilean military leader and politician who served as the President of Chile from 1923 to 1924.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Alvarez

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

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 Alvarez 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.

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

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

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