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

Góngora, 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 Góngora surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Góngora in America

Góngora is the 10050th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Góngora surname appeared 3,205 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 Góngora.

We can also compare 2010 data for Góngora 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 Góngora

The surname Gongora originated in Spain during the 16th century. It is derived from the Spanish word "gongo," which means "wild plant" or "weed." The name likely referred to a place where these plants grew abundantly.

The earliest known bearer of this surname was Juan de Gongora, a Spanish poet born in 1561 in Cordoba, Spain. He is considered one of the most influential poets of the Spanish Golden Age and is renowned for his elaborate and ornate style, known as Gongorism.

Another notable figure with this surname was Luis de Gongora y Argote, a Spanish Renaissance poet and priest born in 1561 in Cordoba. He is best known for his work "Polifemo y Galatea," a long mythological poem published in 1613.

In the 17th century, the Gongora surname appeared in records related to the Spanish colonization of the Americas. One such figure was Pedro de Gongora, a Spanish soldier and explorer who participated in the conquest of Peru in the 1530s.

The name Gongora can also be found in historical documents from Mexico. In the 18th century, Manuel de Gongora was a prominent Mexican historian and author who wrote about the indigenous cultures of Mexico.

Another notable bearer of this surname was José Gongora, a Chilean lawyer and politician who served as the President of Chile from 1851 to 1852.

While the Gongora surname is most commonly associated with Spain and Latin America, it has also spread to other parts of the world due to migration and intermarriage. Some notable individuals with this surname include:

1. Enrique Gongora (1887-1959), a Mexican painter known for his murals and landscapes.
2. Juan Gongora (1880-1949), a Peruvian politician and lawyer who served as the Prime Minister of Peru.
3. Mario Gongora (1909-1995), a Colombian writer and journalist who was a prominent figure in the country's literary scene.
4. Nestor Gongora (born 1937), a Cuban-American artist known for his abstract expressionist paintings.
5. Raul Gongora (born 1953), a Mexican baseball player who competed in the 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Góngora

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

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

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

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