Castorena last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Castorena

A Spanish habitational surname referring to someone from any of several places named Castorena in northern Spain.

Castorena, 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 Castorena surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Castorena in America

Castorena is the 7031st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Castorena surname appeared 4,759 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Castorena.

We can also compare 2010 data for Castorena 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 7031 8913 -23.61%
Count 4,759 3,377 33.97%
Proportion per 100k 1.61 1.25 25.17%

The history of the last name Castorena

The surname Castorena is of Spanish origin and can be traced back to the 15th century in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. It is believed to have derived from the Spanish word "castoreno," which means "beaver" or "beaver-like." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near a beaver den or a place where beavers were abundant.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Castorena can be found in the baptismal records of the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista in Alcázar de San Juan, Ciudad Real, dated 1547. This entry mentions a certain Juan Castorena, who was likely a resident of the area.

In the 16th century, the name also appeared in various legal documents and property records in the city of Toledo, indicating that members of the Castorena family had established themselves in this important Spanish city.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, several individuals bearing the surname Castorena made their way to the New World. One notable figure was Diego Castorena, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s.

Another prominent individual was Pedro Castorena, a Spanish explorer and navigator who accompanied Juan de Oñate's expedition to establish the Spanish colony of New Mexico in 1598. Castorena was instrumental in mapping the routes and charting the territories they explored.

In the 18th century, a branch of the Castorena family settled in the region of Coahuila, in what is now northern Mexico. Here, they established themselves as landowners and ranchers. One of the most prominent members of this branch was José María Castorena, who was born in 1785 and served as a military officer during the Mexican War of Independence.

During the colonial period in Latin America, the surname Castorena also appeared in various historical documents and records in countries such as Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela, indicating the widespread migration of individuals bearing this name throughout the Spanish colonies.

While the surname Castorena is not as widely known as some other Spanish surnames, it has a rich history and has been carried by individuals who played significant roles in the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the Americas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Castorena

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

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 Castorena was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 7.52% 358
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.19% 9
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.19% 9
Hispanic Origin 91.89% 4,373

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 7.52% 7.14% 5.18%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.19% 0.41% -73.33%
Two or More Races 0.19% 0.30% -44.90%
Hispanic 91.89% 91.92% -0.03%

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

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

Reference this page

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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!

"Castorena last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 27, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/castorena-surname-popularity/.

"Castorena last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/castorena-surname-popularity/. Accessed 27 July, 2024

Castorena last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/castorena-surname-popularity/.

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