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

Miguel, 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 Miguel surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Miguel in America

Miguel is the 3303rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Miguel surname appeared 10,861 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 Miguel.

We can also compare 2010 data for Miguel 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 Miguel

The surname Miguel has its origins in Spain and Portugal, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is a patronymic name derived from the given name Miguel, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Michael, meaning "who is like God?"

The earliest recorded instances of the surname Miguel can be found in medieval Spanish and Portuguese documents, such as birth records, land deeds, and tax rolls. It was particularly prevalent in regions like Galicia, Castile, and Andalusia, where the name's roots can be traced back to the 12th and 13th centuries.

One of the earliest known bearers of the Miguel surname was Juan Miguel, a nobleman who lived in the Kingdom of Aragon during the 13th century. He was a prominent figure in the court of King James I of Aragon and played a crucial role in the Reconquista, the campaign to drive the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula.

In the 14th century, the Miguel surname appeared in the records of the city of Seville, where a family of merchants and landowners bearing the name was documented. This family was known for their involvement in the lucrative trade between Spain and the Americas during the Age of Exploration.

Another notable figure in the history of the Miguel surname was Félix Miguel, a Spanish soldier and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer Mexico in the early 16th century. Miguel played a pivotal role in the fall of the Aztec Empire and later served as a governor in the newly established Spanish colonies.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Miguel surname spread across the Spanish Empire, with bearers of the name settling in various parts of the Americas, including Mexico, Peru, and the Caribbean islands. One notable example is Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the renowned Spanish novelist and playwright, best known for his masterpiece Don Quixote, published in the early 17th century.

As the centuries passed, the Miguel surname continued to be prominent in Spain and Portugal, as well as in their former colonial territories. Notable figures bearing the name include Miguel de Unamuno, a renowned Spanish philosopher and writer of the 20th century, and Miguel Ángel Asturias, a Guatemalan novelist and diplomat who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1967.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Miguel

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

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

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

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