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

Hernández, 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 Hernández surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hernández in America

Hernández is the 51512th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hernández surname appeared 404 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 Hernández.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hernández 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 Hernández

The surname Hernanez originated in Spain during the medieval period. It is derived from the personal name Hernán, which is a Spanish form of the Germanic name Ferdinand. The name Hernán was popularized by the famous Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés, who conquered the Aztec Empire in the 16th century.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Hernanez can be found in various historical documents from the 14th and 15th centuries. For example, a certain Juan Hernanez was mentioned in a land grant from the year 1387 in the region of Andalusia, southern Spain.

During the Age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, many Spaniards with the surname Hernanez participated in the exploration and colonization of the Americas. One notable figure was Diego Hernanez de Córdoba, who led an expedition to the Yucatán Peninsula in 1517, where he encountered the Maya civilization.

In the 17th century, the surname Hernanez was also found in various parts of the Spanish Empire, such as Mexico and the Philippines. A famous bearer of the name from this period was Juan Hernanez Morán, a Spanish poet and dramatist who lived from 1627 to 1685.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the surname Hernanez continued to be present in Spain and its former colonies. One notable individual was José Hernanez, a Spanish military officer who fought against the French during the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

Another significant figure was Miguel Hernanez de Velasco, a Mexican writer and historian who lived from 1795 to 1859. He wrote extensively about the history and culture of Mexico, including the indigenous civilizations that existed before the Spanish conquest.

In the 20th century, the surname Hernanez was carried by several notable individuals, such as the Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957), whose full name was Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez Hernanez.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hernández

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

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

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

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