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

Cristerna, 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 Cristerna surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cristerna in America

Cristerna is the 59171st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cristerna surname appeared 342 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 Cristerna.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cristerna 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 Cristerna

The surname Cristerna has its origins in Spain, dating back to the Middle Ages. The name is believed to have derived from the Spanish word "cristal," meaning crystal, and the suffix "-erna," which was commonly used to denote a place or location. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to a place where crystals were found or worked.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Cristerna name can be found in the archives of the Kingdom of Aragon, where a certain Pedro Cristerna is mentioned as a landowner in the town of Zaragoza in the late 13th century. Another early reference comes from the Catalan region, where a merchant named Jaume Cristerna is listed in a trade registry from the city of Barcelona in the year 1372.

As the centuries passed, the Cristerna name spread across various regions of Spain, including Andalusia, Castile, and the Basque Country. In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name was Diego Cristerna, a navigator and explorer who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his historic voyage around the world from 1519 to 1522.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, several individuals with the Cristerna surname made their way to the New World. One such example is Juan Cristerna, who settled in Mexico City in the late 1500s and became a prominent landowner and cattle rancher. Another notable figure was María Cristerna, a philanthropist and benefactor who founded a hospital in the city of Puebla in the early 17th century.

In the 18th century, the Cristerna name can be found in various records from the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. One notable individual from this era was Tomás Cristerna, a military officer who served in the Spanish Navy and participated in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

As the Cristerna family spread throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the name also underwent various spelling variations, including Cristerna, Cristerna, and Cristerna. Despite these variations, the name has maintained its distinct identity and continues to be associated with its Spanish heritage and historical roots.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cristerna

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

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

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

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