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

Calix, 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 Calix surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Calix in America

Calix is the 14076th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Calix surname appeared 2,137 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 Calix.

We can also compare 2010 data for Calix 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 Calix

The surname CALIX is derived from the Latin word 'calix', meaning 'cup' or 'chalice'. Its origins can be traced back to medieval times in Italy, specifically the regions of Tuscany and Umbria. The name likely originated as a nickname for someone associated with the production or use of chalices or cups in religious or secular contexts.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname CALIX appears in a 14th-century document from the Tuscan city of Siena, where a certain Guido Calix is mentioned as a member of a prominent merchant family. This suggests that the name had already established itself in the region by that time.

During the Renaissance period, the name CALIX gained further prominence in Italy. In the 16th century, a notable bearer of this surname was the Umbrian artist Pietro Calix (c. 1480-1545), known for his frescoes and altarpieces adorning various churches in Perugia and surrounding areas.

As the Italian diaspora spread across Europe and beyond, the surname CALIX traveled with them. In the 17th century, records show a Jacobus Calix residing in the Netherlands, indicating the name had taken root in other parts of the continent.

Another early mention of the CALIX surname can be found in the baptismal records of St. Mary's Church in Bury St. Edmunds, England, where a William Calix was baptized in 1632. This suggests that the name had also found its way to the British Isles by that time.

In the 18th century, a prominent figure bearing the CALIX surname was the French philosopher and encyclopedist Jean-André Calix (1713-1792), who contributed numerous articles to the famous Encyclopédie edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert.

Moving into the 19th century, the name CALIX continued to spread globally. Notable bearers included the Italian composer Giuseppe Calix (1810-1879), whose operas were performed in major theaters across Europe, and the Spanish explorer and cartographer Juan Calix (1822-1892), who mapped parts of the Amazon rainforest.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Calix

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

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

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

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