2000
#11
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 775,072
First available Census row
Per 100,000 287.32
Very Common Last name
Martinez
A patronymic surname of Spanish origin meaning "son of Martín," derived from the Roman name Martinus, meaning "of Mars."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 1,192,421 Americans carry the last name Martinez. That puts it at #10 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 347.89 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 287 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Martinez surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Martinez with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
1.2M
1 in 287
Census rank
#10
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
347.9
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
1.0M
very common in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 1,039,848 bearers of the surname Martinez in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 347.89 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 10th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Martinez, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 92.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Martinez
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.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Martinez
Among Census respondents with the surname Martinez, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 92.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%).
The bar chart below shows how Martinez bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Martinez surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.1% · 958,125
- White5.6% · 58,334
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 7,552
- Black or African American0.6% · 6,103
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5,778
- Two or more races0.4% · 3,956
Timeline
Historical Census data for Martinez
Martinez appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#10
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,060,159
+285,087 bearers (+36.8%)
Per 100,000 359.40
Rank movement Up 1 places
2020
#10
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 1,039,848
-20,311 bearers (-1.9%)
Per 100,000 347.89
Rank movement No rank change
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #11 | 775,072 | 287.32 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #10 | 1,060,159 | 359.40 | +285,087 bearers (+36.8%) | Up 1 places |
| 2020 | #10 | 1,039,848 | 347.89 | -20,311 bearers (-1.9%) | No rank change |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Martinez surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #10 | #10 | 0.0% |
| Count | 1,060,159 | 1,039,848 | -1.9% |
| Per 100K | 359.40 | 347.89 | -3.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Martinez bearers went from 1,060,159 to 1,039,848 (-1.9% change). The surname held its position in the national ranking, remaining at #10.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Martinez
FAQ
Martinez surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Martinez?
Name Census estimates that about 1,192,421 living Americans carry the surname Martinez. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 287 residents.
How common is Martinez?
Martinez ranks #10 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Common." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 347.89 per 100,000 residents, which is about 348 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 1,039,848 people with the surname Martinez. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (1,192,421), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 347.89 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 347.89 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 348 of them to have the surname Martinez.
Has Martinez become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Martinez went from 1,060,159 recorded bearers to 1,039,848. That is a decrease of 20,311 (-1.9%). In the national ranking it stayed at #10.
What does the Census say about the background of Martinez?
Among Census respondents with the surname Martinez, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 92.1%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Hispanic is the largest self-reported group for the surname Martinez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.1% (958,125 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Martinez appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Hispanic (92.1%), White (5.6%), Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Martinez (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Martinez mean?
A patronymic surname of Spanish origin meaning "son of Martín," derived from the Roman name Martinus, meaning "of Mars." The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Martinez (347.89 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many Americans have the surname Martinez?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.