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

Grajales, 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 Grajales surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Grajales in America

Grajales is the 14881st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Grajales surname appeared 1,988 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 Grajales.

We can also compare 2010 data for Grajales 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 Grajales

The surname Grajales originated in Spain, with its roots tracing back to the 12th century. It is believed to be derived from the Spanish word "graja," which means "crow" or "rook." The name was likely given to someone who lived near a place where these birds were abundant or had a particular affinity for them.

Grajales was initially found in the regions of Andalusia and Castile in southern and central Spain, respectively. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval Spanish documents and records from the 13th and 14th centuries.

One notable example is the mention of a certain Pedro Grajales in a land registry from the town of Seville, dated 1287. This suggests that the name was already well-established in the region during that time.

Another early reference to the name Grajales comes from a 14th-century manuscript detailing the expeditions of Spanish explorer and navigator Juan Grajales, who participated in several voyages to the Canary Islands and the West African coast in the late 1300s.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Grajales name spread across Spain and eventually to the Americas as part of the Spanish colonial expansion. One notable figure from this era was Diego Grajales (1495-1564), a Spanish conquistador who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer Mexico in 1519.

In the 17th century, a prominent member of the Grajales family was Francisco Grajales (1620-1692), a Spanish painter and engraver who achieved fame for his religious works and portraits of nobility.

The Grajales name also found its way to other parts of Europe and the Americas, with variations in spelling and pronunciation arising over time. For instance, in Italy, the name was sometimes rendered as "Graglia" or "Gragliato."

Other notable individuals with the Grajales surname include Antonio Grajales (1752-1818), a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1808 to 1809, and María Grajales (1815-1893), a Cuban revolutionary and mother of the famed patriots Antonio Maceo and José Maceo, who played pivotal roles in the struggle for Cuban independence from Spain.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Grajales

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

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

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

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