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

Gonzalo, 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 Gonzalo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gonzalo in America

Gonzalo is the 37591st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gonzalo surname appeared 592 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Gonzalo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gonzalo 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 Gonzalo

The surname GONZALO has its origins in Spain, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish personal name Gonzalo, which itself comes from the Germanic name Gundisalvus, meaning "battle protection."

GONZALO was initially a patronymic surname, indicating that the bearer was the son or descendant of someone named Gonzalo. The name first emerged in the regions of Castile and Aragon, where it was particularly popular among the nobility and upper classes.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name GONZALO can be found in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a medieval manuscript from the 10th century. This document mentions a certain Gonzalo Núñez, who was a nobleman and landowner in the region of La Rioja.

Throughout the Middle Ages, the name GONZALO appeared in various royal and noble records, such as the Libro Becerro de las Behetrías, a 14th-century census of landowners and their properties. Notable individuals bearing this surname include Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453-1515), a renowned Spanish military commander known as "El Gran Capitán" (The Great Captain).

In the 16th century, the GONZALO surname gained prominence with Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1509-1579), a Spanish explorer and conquistador who founded the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Another significant figure was Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1478-1557), a Spanish historian and author who wrote extensively about the early Spanish colonization of the Americas.

During the Golden Age of Spanish literature, the name GONZALO was immortalized by Miguel de Cervantes in his masterpiece Don Quixote. One of the main characters, Gonzalo de Quesada, is a wealthy farmer and friend of Quixote's neighbor.

Other notable individuals with the surname GONZALO include Gonzalo Guerrero (c. 1470-1536), a Spanish sailor who was shipwrecked in Mexico and became integrated into Mayan society, and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Aguilar (1453-1515), a Spanish military leader and nobleman.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gonzalo

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

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

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

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