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

Cruzado, 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 Cruzado surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Cruzado in America

Cruzado is the 21895th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Cruzado surname appeared 1,186 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 Cruzado.

We can also compare 2010 data for Cruzado 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 Cruzado

The surname Cruzado has its origins in Portugal, dating back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Portuguese word "cruzado," which means "crusader." The name was likely given to individuals who participated in the Crusades, the series of religious wars waged by Christian Europeans against Muslims in the Holy Land between the 11th and 13th centuries.

The name's earliest recorded usage can be traced back to the Iberian Peninsula, where it was commonly found in medieval records and documents. It was particularly prevalent in regions like Alentejo and the Algarve, which were heavily involved in the Reconquista, the centuries-long struggle to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname Cruzado was João Cruzado, a Portuguese military officer who fought in the Reconquista during the 13th century. He is mentioned in several chronicles from that period, including the "Crónica da Conquista do Algarve" (Chronicle of the Conquest of the Algarve).

In the 14th century, the Cruzado name appeared in the "Livro de Linhagens" (Book of Lineages), a medieval Portuguese manuscript detailing the genealogies of noble families. It recorded the Cruzado family as having originated in the town of Tomar, a historic city in central Portugal that was once the seat of the Order of Christ, a prominent military order.

Another notable figure bearing the Cruzado name was Diogo Cruzado, a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his historic voyage to India in 1498. Cruzado played a crucial role in this expedition, which marked the beginning of the Portuguese Age of Discovery and the establishment of a maritime trade route to the East Indies.

In the 16th century, the Cruzado surname gained prominence in the New World, as Portuguese settlers and explorers carried the name to Brazil and other Portuguese colonies. One such individual was Álvaro Cruzado, a Portuguese colonist who established a settlement in the Brazilian state of Bahia in the early 1500s.

While the name Cruzado has its roots in Portugal, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly to Spanish-speaking countries due to the linguistic similarities between Portuguese and Spanish. In the 20th century, notable figures with the Cruzado surname included Ernesto Cruzado, a Mexican politician and governor of Chihuahua from 1946 to 1952, and Cristino Cruzado, a Peruvian footballer who played in the 1930 FIFA World Cup.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Cruzado

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

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

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

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