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

Kepa, 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 Kepa surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kepa in America

Kepa is the 86314th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kepa surname appeared 216 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 Kepa.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kepa 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 Kepa

The surname KEPA is of Spanish origin, having its roots in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France. It emerged during the medieval period, around the 12th to 14th centuries.

KEPA is believed to have derived from the Basque word "kepa," which translates to "head" or "summit." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived on a hilltop or elevated area. Alternatively, it could have been a descriptive name for someone with a distinctive hairstyle or head shape.

Early records of the name can be found in various Basque manuscripts and documents from the 13th century onward. One notable mention is in the "Codex Calixtinus," a 12th-century manuscript that contains the earliest known records of Basque names and place names.

The first recorded bearer of the surname KEPA was Juan de Kepa, a nobleman from the town of Mundaka in Biscay, who was born around 1280. Another early bearer was Pedro Kepa, a merchant from San Sebastián who lived in the late 14th century.

Over the centuries, variations in spelling emerged, including Kepe, Keppe, and Queppa. Some of these variations were influenced by the regional dialects of the Basque language and the influence of Spanish orthography.

In the 16th century, a notable bearer of the name was Hernando de Kepa, a Basque navigator and explorer who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his historic circumnavigation of the globe in 1519-1522.

During the 17th century, the name KEPA appeared in several baptismal records in the Basque provinces of Biscay and Gipuzkoa, indicating its continued use among the local population.

One famous bearer of the KEPA surname was Juan Ignacio de Kepa (1707-1786), a Basque architect who designed several notable churches and buildings in the Basque region, including the Church of San Sebastián in Bergara.

In the 19th century, Ramón Kepa (1832-1903) was a prominent Basque writer and poet who helped promote the use of the Basque language through his literary works.

As the Basque population migrated to other parts of Spain and beyond, the surname KEPA spread to various regions, though it remains most concentrated in the Basque Country and adjacent areas of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kepa

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

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

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

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