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

DeCosta, 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 DeCosta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of DeCosta in America

DeCosta is the 9861st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The DeCosta surname appeared 3,280 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 DeCosta.

We can also compare 2010 data for DeCosta 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 DeCosta

The surname DeCosta has its origins in Portugal, where it first emerged in the late 15th century. It is believed to have derived from the Portuguese word "costa," meaning "coast" or "shore," suggesting that the name may have been given to individuals who lived near the coastline or had some association with maritime activities.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the DeCosta surname can be found in the Livro de Linhagens, a Portuguese genealogical record dating back to the 13th century. This document mentions individuals with variations of the DeCosta name, such as "da Costa" and "DaCosta," indicating its long-standing presence in Portuguese history.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the DeCosta name began to spread beyond Portugal as Portuguese explorers and settlers ventured to various parts of the world, including the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Some notable individuals bearing this surname during this period include João Rodrigues DeCosta, a Portuguese navigator who accompanied Vasco da Gama's expedition to India in the late 15th century, and Álvaro de Costa, a 16th-century Portuguese explorer and cartographer who produced maps of the Caribbean and Brazil.

As the Portuguese Empire expanded, the DeCosta name also found its way to other regions, such as Brazil, where it became a prominent surname among the Portuguese-descended population. One notable Brazilian with this surname was João Fernandes DeCosta, a 17th-century explorer and settler who played a significant role in the colonization of the Amazon region.

In the United States, the DeCosta name can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when Portuguese immigrants began arriving in significant numbers. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname in the US was João DeCosta, a merchant from Madeira who settled in Massachusetts in the early 19th century.

Throughout history, the DeCosta surname has been associated with various notable figures across different fields. These include Miguel DeCosta, a 16th-century Portuguese composer and organist; António DeCosta, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer in Japan; and José DeCosta, a 19th-century Brazilian poet and abolitionist.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name DeCosta

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

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

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

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