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

Jiménez, 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 Jiménez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jiménez in America

Jiménez is the 100th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jiménez surname appeared 227,118 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 77 people would have the surname Jiménez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jiménez 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 Jiménez

The surname Jimenez is of Spanish origin, derived from the given name Jimeno, which is itself a medieval Spanish variant of the Roman name Sempronius. The name likely emerged during the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors between the 8th and 15th centuries.

Jimenez was a prominent name among the nobility and military leaders during this period, with early records showing it concentrated in the regions of Castile, Aragon, and Andalusia. The earliest documented instance of the name dates back to the 10th century, found in a charter from the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla in La Rioja.

One of the most notable historical figures with this surname was Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, a 13th-century Spanish historian, politician, and prelate who served as Archbishop of Toledo from 1209 until his death in 1247. His chronicle, "De Rebus Hispaniae" (On the Affairs of Spain), is a valuable source for the history of medieval Spain.

Another prominent individual was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, a Spanish conquistador and explorer, born in 1495 in Granada. He led the Spanish conquest of the Muisca Confederation in present-day Colombia, founding the city of Santa Fe de Bogotá in 1538.

Juan Ramón Jiménez, a renowned Spanish poet and scholar, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956 for his "lyrical poetry, which in Spanish language constitutes an example of high spirit and artistic purity." He was born in 1881 in Moguer, Andalusia, and died in 1958.

In the realm of art, Juan de Jiménez is remembered as a 16th-century Spanish painter active in Toledo and Madrid. His most notable work is the altarpiece in the church of San Román in Toledo, completed in 1568.

Another notable figure was Miguel Jiménez de la Espada, a Spanish naturalist, explorer, and writer, born in 1831 in Pamplona. He led scientific expeditions to the Pacific and published several works on the flora and fauna of the Americas.

The surname Jimenez has also been associated with various place names in Spain, such as Jiménez de Jamuz in the province of León, and Jiménez de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz, reflecting the widespread presence of this surname throughout the country.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jiménez

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

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

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

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