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

Martínez, 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 Martínez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Martínez in America

Martínez is the 10th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Martínez surname appeared 1,060,159 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 359 people would have the surname Martínez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Martínez 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 Martínez

The surname Martinez is of Spanish origin, specifically from the Iberian Peninsula. It first emerged in the late 11th century during the time of the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.

The name is derived from the ancient Roman name Martinus, which in turn comes from the name of the Roman god Mars, the god of war. Martinus was a popular name among early Christians, and it gave rise to many surnames across Europe, including Martinez in Spain.

Martinez is a patronymic surname, meaning it originally denoted "son of Martin." The suffix "-ez" was added to the root name to indicate this. Over time, the name became hereditary and passed down through generations.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Martinez surname can be found in the Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century manuscript from the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Galicia, Spain. This text mentions several individuals with the name Martinez, including a knight named Rodrigo Martinez who fought in the Battle of Clavijo in the year 844.

The Martinez name was particularly prevalent in the regions of Castile, Andalusia, and Galicia during the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, a prominent Martinez family held lands and titles in the Galician town of Monforte de Lemos.

Notable individuals with the surname Martinez throughout history include:

1. Diego Martinez de Villamayor (c. 1450 - c. 1505), a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Cuba and Jamaica.
2. Gregorio Martinez (1576 - 1636), a Spanish colonial administrator and the first governor of Nueva Vizcaya, a province in northern Mexico.
3. Sebastián Martínez y Pérez (1759 - 1800), a Spanish naval officer and explorer who led expeditions to the Pacific Northwest of North America in the late 18th century.
4. Maximino Martínez (1888 - 1964), a Mexican revolutionary and military leader who fought alongside Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution.
5. María Martínez (1887 - 1980), a renowned Native American potter from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico, renowned for her black-on-black pottery style.

Throughout the centuries, the Martinez surname has become widespread across Spain and Latin America, carried by Spanish settlers and explorers to the Americas during the colonial era.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Martínez

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

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

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

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