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

Hernaez, 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 Hernaez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hernaez in America

Hernaez is the 70645th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hernaez surname appeared 277 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 Hernaez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hernaez 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 Hernaez

The surname HERNAEZ originated in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France. It is derived from the Basque words "herna" meaning "iron" and "aitz" meaning "rock" or "cliff." The name likely referred to someone who lived near an iron-bearing cliff or rocky area.

HERNAEZ is an ancient Basque surname dating back to at least the 11th century. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a medieval manuscript from the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla in La Rioja, Spain. The document, dated 1076, mentions a landowner named Lope Hernaez.

In the 13th century, the HERNAEZ surname was found in various records from the region, including the Fuero de Navarra, a legal code of laws and customs from the Kingdom of Navarre. The name was also present in the Becerro de Reparaciones de Castilla, a tax record from the 14th century.

Notable individuals with the HERNAEZ surname include Juan Hernaez de Motricu, a 16th-century Basque shipbuilder and navigator who accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on the Magellan-Elcano expedition, the first circumnavigation of the globe. Another notable figure was Martín Hernaez de Bidaurreta, a 17th-century Basque architect who designed several churches and buildings in the Basque Country.

In the 18th century, Domingo Hernaez was a prominent Basque philosopher and writer who authored works on ethics and metaphysics. Juan Bautista Hernaez, born in 1795, was a notable Basque lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Spanish Cortes Generales.

Miguel Hernaez de Orueta, born in 1853, was a renowned Basque engineer and industrialist who played a significant role in the development of the steel industry in the Basque region during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hernaez

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

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

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

Reference this page

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!