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

Escalante, 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 Escalante surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Escalante in America

Escalante is the 1736th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Escalante surname appeared 20,626 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 7 people would have the surname Escalante.

We can also compare 2010 data for Escalante 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 Escalante

The surname Escalante originated in Spain during the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "escala," meaning a ladder or a flight of steps, and likely referred to someone who lived near a set of stairs or a steep incline.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Escalante surname can be found in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a collection of medieval documents from the Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla in La Rioja, Spain, dating back to the 11th century.

The name may have also been influenced by the town of Escalante, located in the Cantabria region of northern Spain. This town was first mentioned in documents from the 12th century, suggesting that the surname could have originated as a place name before becoming a hereditary family name.

During the 15th century, Fernando de Escalante (1422-1492) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquest of the Canary Islands. He was part of the expedition led by Juan de Béthencourt and later became the governor of the island of Gomera.

In the 16th century, Juan de Escalante Alvarado (1516-1596) was a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico and later served as the governor of the province of Nueva Galicia (present-day western Mexico) from 1575 to 1585.

Another notable figure with the Escalante surname was Juan de Escalante Mendoza (1536-1604), a Spanish soldier and administrator who served as the Governor of the Philippines from 1585 to 1592.

In the 19th century, Bernardo Escalante (1836-1892) was a Mexican military officer and politician who served as the Governor of the state of Chihuahua from 1884 to 1888.

The Escalante surname has also been associated with various places and geographical features, such as the Escalante River in Utah, USA, and the Escalante Desert in Chile, both named after Spanish explorers or settlers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Escalante

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

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

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

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