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

Barrenechea, 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 Barrenechea surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Barrenechea in America

Barrenechea is the 75069th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Barrenechea surname appeared 257 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 Barrenechea.

We can also compare 2010 data for Barrenechea 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 Barrenechea

The surname Barrenechea has its origins in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France. It is believed to have derived from the Basque words "barren" (meaning valley) and "etxe" (meaning house or home), indicating the name likely originated from a place name referring to a house or dwelling located in a valley.

The earliest known records of the Barrenechea name date back to the 13th century, appearing in various municipal and church documents from the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. Variations in spelling were common during this period, with forms such as Barrenechea, Barrenechee, and Barrenechaga all being used interchangeably.

One of the earliest notable individuals bearing this surname was Juan de Barrenechea, a prominent merchant and landowner from the town of Azpeitia in Gipuzkoa, who lived during the late 15th century. Another early figure was Martín de Barrenechea, a renowned architect and stonemason responsible for the construction of several churches and buildings in the Basque Country during the 16th century.

In the 17th century, the Barrenechea name gained prominence through the work of Andrés de Barrenechea, a Basque navigator and explorer who accompanied several Spanish expeditions to the Americas and the Pacific Ocean. His accounts and maps of these voyages were highly influential at the time.

The 18th century saw the rise of José Ignacio de Barrenechea, a renowned writer and philosopher from Bilbao, whose works on metaphysics and ethics were widely studied and debated throughout Europe. Around the same period, Miguel de Barrenechea served as a prominent military leader during the Peninsular War, playing a key role in the Spanish resistance against the Napoleonic invasion.

As the Barrenechea family spread beyond the Basque regions, they left their mark in various fields. In the 19th century, Alejandro Barrenechea was a celebrated Argentine novelist and poet, while Ismael Barrenechea was a prominent Chilean politician and diplomat who served as the country's ambassador to several nations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Barrenechea

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!