Find out how popular the last name Gonsales is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Gonsales.
A Spanish and Portuguese surname referring to a person from Gonzalo, a place in the Rioja region of Spain.
Gonsales, 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 Gonsales surname is from the 2010 census data.
Gonsales is the 11095th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Gonsales surname appeared 2,861 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 Gonsales.
We can also compare 2010 data for Gonsales 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.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
Rank | 11095 | 11910 | -7.09% |
Count | 2,861 | 2,407 | 17.24% |
Proportion per 100k | 0.97 | 0.89 | 8.60% |
The surname Gonsales has its origins in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Spain and Portugal. It is believed to have derived from the medieval Spanish personal name Gonzalo, which itself has its roots in the Visigothic name Gundisalvus.
Gundisalvus is a compound name, comprising the Germanic elements "gund" (battle) and "salv" (whole or safe). This suggests that the name Gonsales originally referred to someone who was a "whole or safe warrior" or someone who was "safe in battle."
The earliest recorded instances of the surname Gonsales date back to the 12th century in various Spanish and Portuguese medieval records and manuscripts. One notable early bearer of the name was Pedro Gonsales, a 13th-century Spanish nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
As the Gonsales surname spread across the Iberian Peninsula and beyond, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Gonzalez, Gonçalves, and Goncalves. These variations often reflected regional dialectal differences or scribal preferences.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname in England appears in the 13th-century Pipe Rolls, which mention a certain Johannes Gonsales. This suggests that the name had already begun to spread beyond the Iberian Peninsula by that time.
Over the centuries, the Gonsales surname has been borne by numerous notable individuals, including:
The Gonsales surname continues to be prevalent in Spain, Portugal, and throughout Latin America, reflecting its deep historical roots in the Iberian Peninsula and the spread of Spanish and Portuguese culture and influence across the globe.
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Gonsales.
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:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Gonsales was:
Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
---|---|---|
Non-Hispanic White Only | 6.08% | 174 |
Non-Hispanic Black Only | 1.29% | 37 |
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | 0.70% | 20 |
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.38% | 11 |
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | 0.94% | 27 |
Hispanic Origin | 90.60% | 2,592 |
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 Gonsales has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
White | 6.08% | 6.61% | -8.35% |
Black | 1.29% | 0.37% | 110.84% |
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.70% | 1.16% | -49.46% |
American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.38% | 0.29% | 26.87% |
Two or More Races | 0.94% | 2.41% | -87.76% |
Hispanic | 90.60% | 89.16% | 1.60% |
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 Gonsales was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Gonsales, please contact us.
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!
<a href="http://namecensus.com/last-names/gonsales-surname-popularity/">Gonsales last name popularity, history, and meaning</a>
"Gonsales last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on October 14, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/gonsales-surname-popularity/.
"Gonsales last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/gonsales-surname-popularity/. Accessed 14 October, 2024
Gonsales last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/gonsales-surname-popularity/.
Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.
Simple as that.