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

Baptista, 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 Baptista surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Baptista in America

Baptista is the 9027th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Baptista surname appeared 3,621 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 Baptista.

We can also compare 2010 data for Baptista 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 Baptista

The surname Baptista originated in Italy during the medieval period. It is a patronymic derived from the male given name Battista, which is the Italian form of the name Baptist. The name Baptist itself comes from the Greek βαπτιστής (baptistēs), meaning "baptizer" or "one who baptizes."

Baptista was a fairly common surname in Italy, particularly in regions like Tuscany, Umbria, and Emilia-Romagna. It is also found in historical records from other parts of the Italian peninsula, such as Naples and Sicily. The earliest known written records of the surname date back to the 13th century.

One of the earliest documented instances of the surname Baptista can be found in the "Libro di Montaperti" (Book of Montaperti), a medieval chronicle from the 13th century that describes the events surrounding the Battle of Montaperti in 1260. The chronicle mentions a certain "Battista di Ricco Baptista" who fought in the battle.

Another early reference to the surname appears in the "Matricola dei Mercanti" (Register of Merchants) of the city of Bologna, dated to the year 1294. This document lists several individuals with the surname Baptista who were members of the city's merchant guild.

In the 14th century, a notable figure with the surname Baptista was Giovanni Baptista Strozzi (1355-1418), a wealthy Florentine banker and politician. He was a member of the influential Strozzi family and served as the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia (Standard Bearer of Justice) in Florence.

During the Renaissance, the surname Baptista was borne by several artists and scholars, including the painter Raffaello Baptista (c. 1475-1524) and the humanist scholar Baptista Guarino (1434-1503), who taught at the University of Ferrara.

In the 16th century, the surname was held by the Italian mathematician and astronomer Giovanni Battista Benedetti (1530-1590), who made significant contributions to the study of mechanics and optics.

The surname Baptista also has a long history in Portugal, where it is often spelled as "Batista." One notable bearer of this name was the Portuguese poet and playwright João Baptista de Castro (1700-1775), who was influential in the development of the neo-classical style in Portuguese literature.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Baptista

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

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

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

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