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

Lizarraga, 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 Lizarraga surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lizarraga in America

Lizarraga is the 5361st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lizarraga surname appeared 6,494 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Lizarraga.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lizarraga 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 Lizarraga

The surname Lizarraga originated in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France during the medieval period. It is derived from the Basque words "liza," meaning elm tree, and "arraga," meaning valley or ravine. This suggests that the name likely referred to a place where elm trees grew in a valley or ravine.

The earliest recorded instances of the Lizarraga surname date back to the 13th century in the Basque provinces of Navarre and Gipuzkoa. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Juan de Lizarraga, a nobleman from the town of Lizarraga in Navarre, who lived in the late 13th century.

In the 15th century, the Lizarraga family played a prominent role in the political and military affairs of the Kingdom of Navarre. Juan de Lizarraga, a knight and military commander, fought in the Navarrese Civil War against the Crown of Aragon in the 1450s.

Another notable figure was Reginaldo de Lizarraga, a Basque priest and writer who authored one of the earliest works on the Basque language, "Dictionario Breve de la Lengua Vizcayna," in the late 16th century.

During the colonial era, several members of the Lizarraga family emigrated to the Americas, particularly to Mexico and Peru. One of them was Diego de Lizarraga, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Peru under Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

In the 18th century, Ignacio de Lizarraga y Beaumont, a Basque military officer and colonial administrator, served as the Governor of Chile from 1768 to 1777.

Other notable individuals with the Lizarraga surname include Juan de Lizarraga (1529-1615), a Spanish Dominican friar and missionary in Mexico; Martín de Lizarraga (c. 1560-1615), a Spanish Franciscan friar and missionary in New Spain; and Fray Antonio de Lizarraga (1628-1692), a Spanish Augustinian friar and writer who chronicled the history of the Augustinian order in Mexico.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lizarraga

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

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

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

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