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

Guilherme, 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 Guilherme surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Guilherme in America

Guilherme is the 113155th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Guilherme surname appeared 155 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 Guilherme.

We can also compare 2010 data for Guilherme 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 Guilherme

The surname Guilherme originated in Portugal during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Germanic name Wilhelm, which itself comes from the Old High German words "wil" meaning "will or desire" and "helm" meaning "helmet or protection." The name Guilherme is a Portuguese variant of the more common Spanish and Italian forms Guillermo and Guglielmo, respectively.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Guilherme can be found in the 13th century Portuguese royal chronicles, where it appears as a given name for several members of the Portuguese nobility. For example, Guilherme de Montemor, a knight who fought alongside King Afonso III during the Reconquista, is mentioned in the "Crónica de Portugal" from 1265.

In the 14th century, the surname began to appear more frequently in various legal and administrative documents from the region. One notable example is Guilherme de Vasconcelos, a prominent landowner and military commander who served under King Fernando I in the 1370s.

During the Age of Exploration, several Portuguese explorers and navigators bore the surname Guilherme. One of the most famous was Guilherme de Aguiar, who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his historic voyage to India in 1498. Another notable figure was Guilherme de Sousa, a navigator and cartographer who was part of the first Portuguese expedition to the Moluccas in 1512.

In the literary realm, the surname Guilherme is associated with the acclaimed 16th century poet Guilherme de Almeida. His collection of sonnets and love poems, "Cancioneiro Geral," is considered a masterpiece of Portuguese Renaissance literature.

Other notable individuals with the surname Guilherme include Guilherme de Valadares, a 17th century military engineer who designed several fortifications in Brazil; Guilherme de Almeida Garrett, a 19th century writer and politician who played a key role in the development of Portuguese Romanticism; and Guilherme Pereira Caldas, a 20th century naval officer and pioneer of aviation in Portugal.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Guilherme

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

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

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

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