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

Lugo, 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 Lugo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lugo in America

Lugo is the 913th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lugo surname appeared 37,903 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 13 people would have the surname Lugo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lugo 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 Lugo

The surname Lugo has its origins in the northern regions of Spain, particularly in the region of Galicia. It is believed to have derived from the Latin word "lucus," which means "sacred grove" or "forest." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or was associated with a significant wooded area or sacred grove.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Lugo date back to the 12th and 13th centuries in various medieval documents from the Kingdom of Galicia and the neighboring regions of Asturias and León. One notable example is the mention of a nobleman named Rodrigo de Lugo in a charter from the year 1218, granting him lands in the vicinity of the city of Lugo.

The city of Lugo itself, located in the present-day autonomous community of Galicia, played a significant role in the early history of the surname. It was an important Roman settlement known as Lucus Augusti, and it is possible that the surname originated as a reference to individuals hailing from this ancient city or its surrounding areas.

Throughout the centuries, the surname Lugo has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded figures was Pedro de Lugo (c. 1475-1535), a Spanish conquistador who played a crucial role in the conquest of the Canary Islands and later served as the governor of Santa Marta, a Spanish colony in present-day Colombia.

Another prominent bearer of the surname was Álvaro de Lugo (c. 1495-1554), a Spanish nobleman and military commander who served as the governor of La Española (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti) from 1535 to 1537. He was also involved in the conquest and colonization of various regions in Central America.

In the realm of literature, Juan Bautista de Lugo (1583-1660) was a notable Spanish Jesuit theologian and philosopher who made significant contributions to the development of moral theology and natural law theory during the 17th century.

The surname Lugo also has a notable presence in the New World, particularly in Latin American countries. One example is the Mexican general Dolores del Río Lugo (1857-1926), who played a crucial role in the Mexican Revolution and served as the governor of the state of Chihuahua from 1918 to 1919.

Finally, Pedro de Lugo y Navarro (1668-1735), a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator, served as the governor of Florida and later as the governor of Panama in the early 18th century, leaving a lasting impact on the Spanish colonial administration in the Americas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lugo

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

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

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

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