Brusca last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Brusca

A surname with origins in Sicily, possibly derived from a harsh or rustic nature.

Brusca, 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 Brusca surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Brusca in America

Brusca is the 38850th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Brusca surname appeared 568 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 Brusca.

We can also compare 2010 data for Brusca 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 38850 40203 -3.42%
Count 568 513 10.18%
Proportion per 100k 0.19 0.19 0.00%

The history of the last name Brusca

The surname Brusca has its origins in Italy, with roots that can be traced back to the medieval period. It is believed to have originated from the Italian word "brusca," which means "bramble" or "wild bush." This suggests that the name may have been initially assigned as a descriptive nickname for someone who lived near a thicket or dense shrubbery.

The earliest known records of the Brusca surname can be found in various documents from the 13th and 14th centuries in regions such as Sicily and Calabria, where the name was particularly prominent. One of the earliest documented individuals with this surname was Giovanni Brusca, a nobleman from Palermo, Sicily, who lived in the late 13th century.

The Brusca name has been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. One such figure was Giulio Brusca, a Sicilian painter who lived in the 16th century and is renowned for his religious works adorning churches in Palermo and Messina. Another prominent bearer of the name was Bernardo Brusca, a 17th-century architect from Naples who designed several important buildings, including the Church of San Francesco Saverio.

In the 18th century, the Brusca family played a significant role in the Sicilian wine trade, with members like Giuseppe Brusca (1725-1798) owning vineyards and exporting wine to various parts of Europe. The name also gained notoriety in the 20th century due to the infamous Sicilian mafia boss Giovanni Brusca (born 1957), who was convicted of numerous crimes, including the murder of a young boy in an act of retaliation against his father, a former member of the Cosa Nostra.

While the Brusca surname is most prevalent in Italy, particularly in the southern regions of Sicily and Calabria, it has also spread to other parts of the world through immigration. Some variations of the spelling include Bruschi, Bruschetta, and Bruschini, which may have evolved due to regional variations or transcription errors over time.

It's worth noting that the Brusca surname has also been associated with several place names in Italy, such as Brusca di Montiano in Tuscany and Brusca Munacione in Piedmont, suggesting that the name may have originated from specific geographic locations as well.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Brusca

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

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 Brusca was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.19% 535
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.94% 11
Hispanic Origin 2.99% 17

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 Brusca has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.19% 95.32% -1.19%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% 0.97% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 1.94% 1.95% -0.51%
Hispanic 2.99% 1.75% 52.32%

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

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

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