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

Gomes, 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 Gomes surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gomes in America

Gomes is the 1433rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gomes surname appeared 24,827 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 8 people would have the surname Gomes.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gomes 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 Gomes

The surname Gomes is of Portuguese origin, deriving from the personal name Gomes. This name is thought to have originated from the Old Germanic name Gumma, which is a diminutive of the word 'guma' meaning 'man' or 'warrior'. The earliest known bearers of the Gomes name lived in Portugal during the 12th century.

In the historical records of Portugal, the Gomes surname can be found in documents dating back to the 13th century. One notable early bearer was Gomes Lourenço, a nobleman who served as a councilor to King Afonso III in the mid-1200s. Another was João Gomes de Abreu, a 14th century explorer who accompanied Portuguese expeditions to the Canary Islands.

The surname Gomes also has connections to several place names in Portugal. The town of Gomes Aires in the Algarve region is thought to have been named after an early settler with the Gomes surname. Similarly, the parish of Gomes in Porto may have derived its name from a landowner called Gomes.

Throughout history, there have been several prominent individuals with the surname Gomes. These include Pedro Álvares Gomes, a 15th century Portuguese navigator who explored the coast of West Africa. João Gomes Barreto (1520-1593) was a notable Portuguese explorer and naval officer who served as the Governor of Portuguese India.

In the literary world, João Baptista Gomes (1635-1700) was a renowned Portuguese playwright and poet during the baroque period. More recently, João Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967), often considered one of Brazil's greatest novelists, was born João Gomes Rosa.

Another noteworthy bearer of the Gomes surname was Sebastião Gomes da Silva (1892-1962), a Brazilian football player and manager who played a key role in establishing the sport in his home country. He was part of the first Brazilian national team to compete in the World Cup in 1930.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gomes

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

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

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

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