Coya last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Coya

A surname possibly originating from the Quechua language referring to an Incan ruler or royalty.

Coya, 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 Coya surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Coya in America

Coya is the 141140th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Coya surname appeared 118 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 Coya.

We can also compare 2010 data for Coya 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 141140 136783 3.14%
Count 118 113 4.33%
Proportion per 100k 0.04 0.04 0.00%

The history of the last name Coya

The surname COYA is believed to have originated in Spain, specifically in the Basque region. It is thought to derive from the Basque word "koia," which means "hut" or "small dwelling." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived in a small hut or cottage.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name COYA appears in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a medieval manuscript from the 10th century that contains various legal documents and records from the region of La Rioja in northern Spain. In this manuscript, a person named Coya Sánchez is mentioned as a landowner.

The surname COYA can also be found in the Becerro de las Behetrías, a 14th-century census and tax record of the kingdom of Castile. This document lists several individuals with the surname, indicating that the name was present in various parts of northern Spain during that time period.

One notable individual with the surname COYA was Juan de Coya, a 16th-century Spanish explorer and conquistador who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expeditions to Mexico. He was born around 1490 in the town of Orduña, in the Basque region of Spain.

Another prominent figure with this surname was Pedro de Coya, a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of the province of Pánuco in New Spain (present-day Mexico) in the late 16th century.

In the 17th century, a man named Andrés de Coya y Guzmán was a prominent landowner and cattle rancher in the region of Extremadura, Spain. He was involved in several disputes over land ownership and grazing rights, which were documented in legal records from the time.

Another noteworthy individual with the surname COYA was María de Coya, a 17th-century nun and writer who lived in the convent of Santa Clara in Seville, Spain. She wrote several religious works and was known for her pious and scholarly life.

In the 18th century, a man named Francisco Javier de Coya y Mendoza served as a colonial administrator and judge in the Viceroyalty of Peru. He was born in 1712 in the city of Trujillo, in the region of Extremadura, Spain.

These are just a few examples of individuals with the surname COYA who have left their mark throughout history, particularly in Spain and its former colonies in the Americas. The name's origins can be traced back to the Basque region and its connection to small dwellings or huts, reflecting the geographic and linguistic diversity of Spain.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Coya

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

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 Coya was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 34.75% 41
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.00% 0
Hispanic Origin 62.71% 74

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 34.75% 33.63% 3.28%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.00% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 62.71% 60.18% 4.12%

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

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

Reference this page

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"Coya last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on June 10, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/coya-surname-popularity/.

"Coya last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/coya-surname-popularity/. Accessed 10 June, 2025

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

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