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

Gamboa, 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 Gamboa surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gamboa in America

Gamboa is the 1829th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gamboa surname appeared 19,577 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 Gamboa.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gamboa 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 Gamboa

The surname Gamboa originates from Spain, specifically the Basque region. It is believed to have derived from the Basque words "gamo" meaning "deer" and "bao" meaning "valley" or "woods." Thus, the name likely referred to someone who lived in a valley or wooded area where deer were found.

Gamboa is an ancient surname that can be traced back to the 11th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Becerro, an old parchment manuscript from the Monastery of Valvanera in La Rioja, Spain, dating back to 1090. Here, a nobleman named Sancho Gamboa is mentioned as a vassal of King Sancho Ramirez of Aragon.

Another early reference to the Gamboa name comes from the Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century manuscript that documents the life and miracles of St. James the Great. It mentions a certain Pedro Gamboa who was a knight and pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) in the 1130s.

In the 13th century, a branch of the Gamboa family settled in the town of Gamboa in Álava, Spain, which likely took its name from them. This place name is recorded in various medieval documents, including the Becerro de las Behetrías de Castilla, a 14th-century census of landowners and vassals in the Kingdom of Castile.

One of the most famous individuals with the Gamboa surname was Juan López de Gamboa (c. 1470-1537), a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He was part of the expedition led by Hernán Cortés that resulted in the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century.

Another notable Gamboa was Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532-1592), a Spanish explorer, navigator, and author. He participated in several expeditions to the Strait of Magellan and the Pacific Coast of South America, and wrote an important account of his travels titled "Historia de los Incas."

In the 17th century, Miguel de Gamboa y Uribarren (1592-1660) was a Spanish clergyman and writer who served as Bishop of Cuzco, Peru. He is known for his work "Nueva Crónica y Buen Gobierno," which provides valuable information about the indigenous peoples of Peru during the colonial period.

The Gamboa surname also spread to the Americas during the Spanish colonization. One example is Juan de Gamboa (c. 1530-1597), a Spanish conquistador who was one of the founders of the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1610.

In the 19th century, José María Gamboa (1801-1867) was a Mexican military officer and politician who served as interim president of Mexico for a brief period in 1858 during the War of Reform.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gamboa

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

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

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

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