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

Eguia, 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 Eguia surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Eguia in America

Eguia is the 17367th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Eguia surname appeared 1,626 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 Eguia.

We can also compare 2010 data for Eguia 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 Eguia

The surname Eguia has its origins in the Basque Country, an autonomous region straddling northern Spain and southwestern France. It is believed to have emerged in the early medieval period, around the 8th to 10th centuries.

Eguia is thought to derive from the Basque word "egia," meaning "truth" or "verity." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who was considered truthful or honest. Alternatively, it could have been a descriptive name referring to a place associated with truth or justice.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Eguia was Lope de Eguia, a knight who fought alongside King Alfonso VIII of Castile during the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors in the late 12th century.

In the 15th century, Juan de Eguia was a prominent merchant and shipowner based in the Basque port city of San Sebastián. He played a significant role in the trade between the Basque Country and the New World, establishing commercial ties with the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

During the Spanish Golden Age in the 16th and 17th centuries, several Eguia family members held notable positions in the Catholic Church. One such figure was Fray Martín de Eguia, a Franciscan friar who served as a missionary in the Philippines and authored several works on the indigenous languages and cultures of the archipelago.

In the 19th century, José María Eguía was a Mexican military officer and politician who served as the interim president of Mexico for a brief period in 1829 during a time of political turmoil.

Another notable bearer of the Eguia surname was Rafael Eguía Lírain, a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived from 1856 to 1917. He was known for his portraits and religious works, many of which can be found in churches and museums throughout Spain.

While the Eguia surname is relatively uncommon outside of the Basque Country and Spanish-speaking regions, it has a rich history that reflects the cultural and linguistic heritage of the Basque people, as well as their contributions to various fields throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Eguia

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!