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

Cadena, 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 Cadena surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cadena in America

Cadena is the 3117th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cadena surname appeared 11,560 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Cadena.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cadena 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 Cadena

The surname Cadena originates from Spain and can be traced back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Spanish word "cadena," meaning "chain," which may have been a descriptive name for someone who worked with chains or lived near a location marked by chains.

During the Middle Ages, the Cadena name was found in various parts of Spain, including Catalonia, Aragon, and Castile. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in a document from the Monasterio de San Millán de la Cogolla, dated 1089, which mentions a person named Petrus Cadena.

In the 13th century, the Cadena name was present in the Libro del Repartimiento de Mallorca, a record of land distribution in the Balearic Islands after the Christian conquest in 1229. This document includes the names of several individuals with the surname Cadena, suggesting that they were among the early settlers of the islands.

In the 15th century, a notable figure with the Cadena surname was Juan de Cadena (c. 1450-1530), a Spanish explorer and navigator who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. He later became a prominent figure in the colonization of Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti).

Another historical figure bearing the Cadena name was Pedro de Cadena (c. 1510-1570), a Spanish soldier and conquistador who participated in the conquest of Peru under Francisco Pizarro. He later served as a lieutenant governor in various regions of Peru.

In the 17th century, a prominent member of the Cadena family was Juan de Cadena y Rasal (1630-1705), a Spanish military officer and engineer who served as the Governor of Havana, Cuba, from 1698 to 1705.

The Cadena surname has also been associated with various place names in Spain, such as Cadena de Piedras (Chain of Stones) and Cadena de Montañas (Chain of Mountains), which may have influenced the origin and meaning of the name.

Over the centuries, the Cadena surname has spread across Spain and beyond, carried by individuals and families who migrated to other parts of Europe, Latin America, and other regions of the world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cadena

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Cadena, 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!