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

Ernandez, 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 Ernandez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ernandez in America

Ernandez is the 28176th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ernandez surname appeared 849 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 Ernandez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ernandez 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 Ernandez

The surname ERNANDEZ is believed to have originated in Spain during the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "hernandez," which means "son of Hernando." Hernando was a common given name in Spain, particularly during the Middle Ages, and it is a Spanish form of the Germanic name "Ferdinand."

The earliest recorded instances of the ERNANDEZ surname can be traced back to the 13th and 14th centuries in various regions of Spain, including Andalusia, Castile, and Aragon. The name was often associated with families from these areas and was sometimes spelled with variations such as "Hernandes" or "Hernandes."

One of the earliest known individuals with the ERNANDEZ surname was Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, who lived in the 13th century and was a prominent nobleman and military leader during the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.

In the 15th century, the ERNANDEZ surname gained further prominence with the explorer and conquistador Diego Hernandez de Córdoba, who led the first Spanish expedition to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico in 1517.

Another notable figure with the ERNANDEZ surname was Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish historian and writer who lived from 1478 to 1557. He is best known for his detailed accounts of the early Spanish explorations and conquests in the Americas, particularly his work "Historia General y Natural de las Indias."

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the ERNANDEZ surname spread throughout the Spanish Empire, including to the Americas, as Spanish colonists and settlers brought the name with them to the New World. One prominent individual from this era was Diego Fernández de Palencia, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Peru alongside Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

In the 19th century, José Fernández de Velasco y Fernández de Córdoba, Duke of Frías, was a Spanish nobleman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1834 to 1835.

As the ERNANDEZ surname spread across Spain and its colonies, it became associated with various regions and place names, such as Córdoba, Oviedo, and Velasco, reflecting the family origins and ancestral homes of different branches of the ERNANDEZ lineage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ernandez

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

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

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

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