2000
#11,884
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,412
First available Census row
Per 100,000 0.89
Rare Last name
Montejano
A Spanish toponymic surname indicating a person from the region of Montejano, derived from the word "mont" meaning mountain.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,390 Americans carry the last name Montejano. That puts it at #10,363 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.99 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 101,107 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Montejano 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.
Bearers in the US
3.4K
1 in 101,107
Census rank
#10,363
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
3.0K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,956 bearers of the surname Montejano in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.99 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 10363rd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Montejano, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.0%. The next largest groups are White (4.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Montejano
The surname MONTEJANO originated in Spain during the late Middle Ages. It is derived from the Spanish words "monte" meaning mountain and "jano" likely referring to a person's name or place of origin. This suggests the name may have been given to someone who lived near or came from a mountainous area.
Early recordings of the name can be found in historical documents from regions like Andalusia and Extremadura in southern Spain. Variations in spelling like Montexano and Montejana were sometimes used in these early records from the 14th and 15th centuries.
One notable early bearer of the name was Miguel Montejano, a Spanish conquistador born around 1480 who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s. Records show he was granted an encomienda, or land grant, in the Valley of Mexico after the fall of the Aztec Empire.
In the 1600s, the Montejano name appears in parish records from towns like Grazalema in Cádiz province. Pedro Montejano, born in 1635, was a respected elder and landowner in this mountain village according to local archives from that era.
As the Spanish Empire expanded, the name spread to regions like Mexico, the Philippines, and parts of the Americas colonized by Spain. Sebastián Montejano, born in 1732 in Guadalajara, New Spain (now Mexico), became a prosperous merchant and rancher whose descendants carried on the family name.
Other noteworthy individuals with this surname include Manuel Montejano y Aguiñaga (1779-1853), a Spanish military officer and colonial governor of Spanish Florida, and Antonio Montejano y Espartero (1823-1897), a Peruvian politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1857.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Montejano
Among Census respondents with the surname Montejano, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.0%. The next largest groups are White (4.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%).
The bar chart below shows how Montejano 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 Montejano surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.0% · 2,809
- White4.1% · 120
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 14
- Two or more races0.2% · 7
- Black or African American0.1% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Timeline
Historical Census data for Montejano
Montejano 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
#9,907
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 3,263
+851 bearers (+35.3%)
Per 100,000 1.11
Rank movement Up 1,977 places
2020
#10,363
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,956
-307 bearers (-9.4%)
Per 100,000 0.99
Rank movement Down 456 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #11,884 | 2,412 | 0.89 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #9,907 | 3,263 | 1.11 | +851 bearers (+35.3%) | Up 1,977 places |
| 2020 | #10,363 | 2,956 | 0.99 | -307 bearers (-9.4%) | Down 456 places |
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 Montejano 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 | #9,907 | #10,363 | -4.6% |
| Count | 3,263 | 2,956 | -9.4% |
| Per 100K | 1.11 | 0.99 | -10.9% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Montejano bearers went from 3,263 to 2,956 (-9.4% change). The surname moved down 456 positions in the national ranking, going from #9,907 to #10,363.
FAQ
Montejano surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Montejano?
Name Census estimates that about 3,390 living Americans carry the surname Montejano. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 101,107 residents.
How common is Montejano?
Montejano ranks #10,363 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.99 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,956 people with the surname Montejano. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,390), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.99 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.99 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Montejano.
Has Montejano become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Montejano went from 3,263 recorded bearers to 2,956. That is a decrease of 307 (-9.4%). In the national ranking it fell from #9,907 to #10,363.
What does the Census say about the background of Montejano?
Among Census respondents with the surname Montejano, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.0%. The next largest groups are White (4.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). 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 Montejano in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.0% (2,809 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Montejano appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Hispanic (95.0%), White (4.1%), Asian/Pacific Islander (0.5%). 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 Montejano (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 Montejano mean?
A Spanish toponymic surname indicating a person from the region of Montejano, derived from the word "mont" meaning mountain. 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 Montejano (0.99 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 common is the surname Montejano?
Find out how many people are called Montejano on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.