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

Maciel, 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 Maciel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Maciel in America

Maciel is the 3142nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Maciel surname appeared 11,500 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Maciel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Maciel 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 Maciel

The surname Maciel has its origins in the Galicia region of Spain. It is derived from the Latin personal name Macilius, which is a diminutive form of the Roman family name Macius. The earliest recorded instances of this name date back to the 12th century.

Maciel is considered a patronymic surname, meaning it originally identified someone as the son or descendant of a person named Macilio or Macilius. The prefix "Mac" or "Mc" is a Gaelic term meaning "son of," which was later added to the name as it spread throughout the Celtic regions of Spain and Portugal.

One of the earliest known historical figures with this surname was Rodrigo Maciel, a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his famous voyage to India in 1498. Another notable bearer of this name was Miguel Maciel, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maciel surname was well-represented among the Portuguese and Spanish nobility. One prominent example is João Maciel Rebelo, a 17th-century Portuguese nobleman who served as the governor of Madeira Island from 1642 to 1648.

The Maciel name also has a strong presence in Brazil, where it was brought by Portuguese colonists and settlers. One of the earliest recorded instances of this surname in Brazil dates back to the 16th century, when João Maciel da Costa, a Portuguese explorer, established a settlement in the northeastern region of the country.

Another notable figure with this surname was Antonio Maciel Parente, a Brazilian politician and military leader who served as the governor of the state of Ceará from 1837 to 1841. During his tenure, he played a crucial role in suppressing the Sabinada Revolt, a separatist movement that sought to establish an independent republic in the northeastern region of Brazil.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Maciel

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

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

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

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