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

Faz, 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 Faz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Faz in America

Faz is the 14119th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Faz surname appeared 2,128 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 Faz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Faz 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 Faz

The surname Faz originated in Portugal during the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Portuguese word "faz," which means "to do" or "to make." This suggests that the name may have been initially given as a descriptive surname to someone who was a skilled craftsman or artisan.

The earliest recorded instances of the Faz surname date back to the 13th century, when it appeared in various historical documents and records from the region of Alentejo in southern Portugal. Some of the earliest mentions include João Faz, a carpenter from the town of Évora, who was mentioned in a guild registry from 1267.

In the 14th century, the Faz surname was also found in the neighboring region of Algarve, where it was associated with several families of farmers and landowners. One notable figure from this period was Martim Faz, a wealthy landowner from the town of Loulé, whose name was recorded in a land transaction document from 1382.

As the Faz surname spread throughout Portugal over the centuries, it also began to appear in various spellings and variations, such as Faaz, Faazes, and Fazz. Some of these variations may have been influenced by local dialects or regional variations in pronunciation.

During the Age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, some individuals with the Faz surname likely accompanied Portuguese explorers and colonists to various parts of the world, including Brazil, Africa, and Asia. This contributed to the further dispersal of the name across different continents.

One of the earliest notable figures with the Faz surname was Rodrigo Faz de Arce, a Spanish-born navigator and explorer who participated in the Spanish conquest of the Philippines in the late 16th century. He was born in Seville, Spain, in 1553 and died in the Philippines in 1599.

Another noteworthy individual was João Faz Pereira, a Portuguese soldier and colonial administrator who served as the Governor of Portuguese Mozambique from 1635 to 1639. He played a crucial role in strengthening Portugal's presence and influence in the region during that period.

In the 18th century, Manuel Faz de Sousa was a prominent Portuguese architect and engineer who was responsible for designing and overseeing the construction of several important buildings and infrastructure projects in Lisbon and other parts of Portugal. He lived from 1703 to 1789.

In the 19th century, José Faz da Silva was a Brazilian poet and writer who gained recognition for his works that celebrated the beauty and culture of his native land. He was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1818 and died in 1892.

One of the most renowned individuals with the Faz surname in modern times was António Faz Calheiros, a Portuguese politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978. He played a pivotal role in the country's transition to democracy after the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Calheiros was born in 1923 and passed away in 2004.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Faz

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Faz, 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!