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

Castañeira, 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 Castañeira surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Castañeira in America

Castañeira is the 125282nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Castañeira surname appeared 137 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 Castañeira.

We can also compare 2010 data for Castañeira 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 Castañeira

The surname Castaneira is of Portuguese origin and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Portuguese word "castaneira," which means "chestnut tree." This suggests that the name may have originated from a place where chestnut trees were abundant or from a person who lived near or worked with chestnut trees.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Castaneira can be found in medieval Portuguese documents and records. One notable example is João Castaneira, a landowner and nobleman who lived in the 13th century in the region of Minho, northern Portugal.

In the 15th century, the name appears in the Livro das Linhagens (Book of Lineages), a Portuguese genealogical record that traces the ancestry of noble families. It mentions a Pero Castaneira, a knight who fought in the Reconquista, the long struggle against the Moors for the control of the Iberian Peninsula.

During the Age of Exploration, the surname Castaneira was carried by Portuguese explorers and settlers to various parts of the world, including Brazil, Africa, and Asia. One notable figure was Fernão Castaneira, a navigator who accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral on his voyage to Brazil in 1500.

In the 17th century, the name Castaneira appears in the records of the Portuguese Inquisition, indicating that some individuals with this surname were persecuted or interrogated for their religious beliefs or practices.

Another notable figure bearing the Castaneira surname was Padre António Castaneira, a Jesuit missionary who lived in the 18th century and worked in the Portuguese colonies in India and Southeast Asia, contributing to the spread of Christianity in those regions.

The surname Castaneira has also been associated with various place names in Portugal, such as Castanheira (a variation of the name), which is a town in the district of Guarda, and Quinta da Castanheira, an estate in the Algarve region.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Castañeira

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

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

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

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