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

Jaqua, 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 Jaqua surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jaqua in America

Jaqua is the 41657th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jaqua surname appeared 522 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 Jaqua.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jaqua 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 Jaqua

The surname JAQUA is believed to have originated in France during the medieval period. It is thought to be a locational name derived from the French place name Jaquaus, which itself comes from the Latin word "jocosus" meaning "jocular" or "amusing." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone with a humorous or light-hearted nature.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a detailed survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. Here, a landowner named Radulphus de Jaquaus is listed as holding property in the county of Lincolnshire. This indicates that the name had already spread to England by the late 11th century.

In the 13th century, a variant spelling of the name, "de Jaquavilla," appears in a charter from the reign of King Henry III, referring to a family from the village of Jacqueville in Normandy. This suggests that the name may have had multiple points of origin in different regions of northern France.

Notable historical figures with the surname JAQUA include Jean-Baptiste Jaqua (1685-1757), a French sculptor who worked on the decorations of the Palace of Versailles, and Pierre Jaqua (1720-1792), a French philosopher and writer who was a proponent of the Enlightenment.

In the 19th century, the name gained prominence in the United States with the rise of the industrialist and philanthropist Benjamin Jaqua (1817-1892), who made his fortune in the mining industry and later founded the Jaqua Academy, a prestigious preparatory school in Oregon.

Another significant figure was Amelia Jaqua (1879-1967), an American author and activist who was a vocal advocate for women's rights and the temperance movement in the early 20th century.

Finally, one cannot discuss the JAQUA surname without mentioning the renowned American artist and illustrator, Edward Jaqua (1903-1986), whose works were widely published in magazines and books throughout his long career.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jaqua

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

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

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

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