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

Clavijo, 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 Clavijo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Clavijo in America

Clavijo is the 18877th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Clavijo surname appeared 1,448 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 Clavijo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Clavijo 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 Clavijo

The surname Clavijo originates from Spain and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is likely derived from the Spanish word "clavo," meaning "nail," and may have initially referred to someone who worked as a nail maker or in a related trade.

The name can be found in historical records from various regions of Spain, particularly in the northern areas of Castile and Aragon. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the 13th century, when a certain Pedro Clavijo was mentioned in a document from the city of Burgos.

In the 14th century, a notable figure named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (c. 1360–c. 1412) gained prominence as a Spanish traveler and author. He is best known for his travel account, "Embajada a Tamorlán" (Embassy to Tamerlane), which documented his journey to the court of the Mongol ruler Timur in Samarkand.

Another historical figure with the Clavijo surname was Francisco de Clavijo y Campero (c. 1545–1614), a Spanish military leader and governor of the Philippines during the early years of Spanish colonial rule in the archipelago.

In the 17th century, Juan Ruiz de Clavijo (1620–1692) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary and cartographer who worked in the Philippines and created one of the earliest known maps of the island of Luzon.

During the 18th century, José Clavijo y Fajardo (1726–1806) was a prominent Spanish writer, journalist, and translator who played a significant role in introducing Enlightenment ideas to Spain.

The surname Clavijo has also been associated with various places in Spain, such as the town of Clavijo in the province of La Rioja, and the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Nájera, which was the site of the legendary Battle of Clavijo in the 9th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Clavijo

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

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

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

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