Lorta last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Lorta

A surname denoting someone from a Spanish town of that name.

Lorta, 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 Lorta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lorta in America

Lorta is the 72568th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lorta surname appeared 268 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 Lorta.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lorta 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 72568 87729 -18.92%
Count 268 197 30.54%
Proportion per 100k 0.09 0.07 25.00%

The history of the last name Lorta

The surname Lorta has its origins in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France, dating back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Basque word "lore," meaning flower, and the suffix "-ta," indicating a diminutive form. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone associated with flowers or a small flower garden.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lorta can be found in the municipal archives of the town of Bayonne, located in the Basque Country region of France. In a document dated 1587, a man named Juan Lorta is mentioned as a landowner in the vicinity of the town. Additionally, the name appears in several parish records from the 17th century in the nearby villages of Anglet and Biarritz.

In the early 18th century, a notable figure with the surname Lorta was Marie Lorta (1701-1774), a celebrated Basque poet and playwright. Her works, which were written in both Basque and French, explored themes of love, nature, and Basque cultural identity. Another prominent individual was JoaquĆ­n Lorta (1782-1856), a Spanish military officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and later became a respected strategist and author on military tactics.

The name Lorta can also be traced to the small village of Lortzia in the Navarre region of northern Spain. This village's name is a variation of Lorta, and it is believed that some families bearing the surname may have originated from this area. In the 19th century, a wealthy merchant named Pedro Lorta (1825-1891) from Lortzia established a successful trading business, exporting Basque wool and wine to other parts of Europe.

Another notable figure was Catalina Lorta (1860-1932), a Basque educator and advocate for women's rights. She founded several schools in the Basque Country and was a vocal supporter of educational opportunities for girls and women. In the early 20th century, a Basque artist named Ignacio Lorta (1887-1962) gained recognition for his landscape paintings depicting the rugged beauty of the Pyrenees Mountains and the Basque coastline.

While the surname Lorta is not exceedingly common, it has been carried by individuals from various walks of life throughout history, with roots firmly planted in the Basque culture and traditions of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lorta

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

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 Lorta was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 7.46% 20
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.00% 0
Hispanic Origin 91.79% 246

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 Lorta has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 7.46% 7.61% -1.99%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Hispanic 91.79% 90.36% 1.57%

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

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

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"Lorta last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/lorta-surname-popularity/.

"Lorta last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/lorta-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Lorta last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/lorta-surname-popularity/.

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