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

Chinchilla, 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 Chinchilla surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Chinchilla in America

Chinchilla is the 9165th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Chinchilla surname appeared 3,561 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 Chinchilla.

We can also compare 2010 data for Chinchilla 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 Chinchilla

The surname Chinchilla has its origins in Spain, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "chinchilla," which refers to a small rodent native to the Andes Mountains in South America. The name likely originated as a descriptive surname, perhaps given to someone who traded in chinchilla fur or worked with the animal in some capacity.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Chinchilla can be found in various historical documents from the 13th and 14th centuries in Spain. One notable example is a record from the year 1285 that mentions a certain Juan Chinchilla, a nobleman from the region of Andalusia.

In the 15th century, the name appears in the archives of the Spanish Inquisition, where a Juan Chinchilla de Baeza is mentioned as a victim of persecution during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

During the Age of Exploration, the Chinchilla surname was carried across the Atlantic Ocean by Spanish settlers and explorers. In the 16th century, a man named Pedro Chinchilla was among the early Spanish colonists in present-day Mexico.

Over the centuries, the Chinchilla surname has been associated with several notable individuals. One such figure was Luis Chinchilla (1582-1653), a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Panama and Costa Rica in the early 17th century.

In the world of literature, the name Chinchilla is associated with the Mexican poet and writer Manuel Chinchilla Aguilar (1923-1994), known for his works that explored the themes of identity, heritage, and social justice.

Another prominent bearer of the Chinchilla surname was José María Chinchilla (1805-1865), a Honduran politician and military leader who served as the President of Honduras from 1854 to 1855.

In the field of art, the Spanish painter and sculptor Joaquín Chinchilla (1847-1909) gained recognition for his contributions to the Romantic and Realist movements in the late 19th century.

These are just a few examples of the individuals who have carried the Chinchilla surname throughout history, reflecting its Spanish origins and its presence across various regions and cultural spheres.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Chinchilla

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

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

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

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