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

Lema, 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 Lema surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lema in America

Lema is the 8439th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lema surname appeared 3,913 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Lema.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lema 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 Lema

The surname Lema has its origins in Spain and the Basque region. It is believed to be derived from the Basque word "lema", which means "summit" or "peak". This suggests that the name may have initially been a topographic name, given to someone who lived near a prominent hill or mountain.

The earliest recorded instances of the Lema surname date back to the 15th century in the Basque provinces of Spain. One notable example is Rodrigo Lema, a merchant from Vizcaya who was mentioned in local records from the year 1482. The name also appears in the census records of the town of Lekeitio in 1511, where several Lema families were documented.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, as the Spanish Empire expanded across the Americas, some individuals bearing the Lema surname migrated to the New World. One such individual was Juan Lema, a Spanish soldier who participated in the conquest of Peru under Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

In the 18th century, the Lema surname can be found in various parts of Spain, particularly in the Basque region and the neighboring provinces. One notable bearer of the name was Ignacio Lema, a Basque philosopher and theologian who lived from 1712 to 1785 and authored several works on ethics and moral philosophy.

As the Lema surname spread beyond its Basque origins, it also took on variations in spelling, such as Lema, Lemas, and Lemma. One prominent individual with the latter spelling was Carl Samuel Lemma, a Swedish botanist and explorer who lived from 1785 to 1849 and made significant contributions to the study of plant life in South America.

Other notable individuals with the Lema surname include Manuel Lema, a Spanish military officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and was awarded the Order of Santiago in 1815, and Juana Lema, a 19th-century Ecuadorian poet and activist who campaigned for women's rights and education in her home country.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lema

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

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

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

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