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

Montoy, 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 Montoy surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Montoy in America

Montoy is the 67519th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Montoy surname appeared 292 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Montoy.

We can also compare 2010 data for Montoy 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 Montoy

The surname Montoy has its origins in the Basque region of northern Spain and southern France. It is derived from the Basque words "monte" meaning mountain and "oi" meaning slope or hillside. This suggests the name originally referred to someone who lived on a mountainside or hillside area.

Records show the name Montoy was present in the region as early as the 13th century. One of the earliest known references is from a manuscript dated 1278 which mentions a person named Juan de Montoy. This indicates the surname was already established by that time period.

In the 14th century, there are records of a Basque noble family using the name Montoy. They held lands and properties in the village of Montori, which likely contributed to the surname's formation and spelling variations like Montori or Montory appearing.

The first known person of major historical note to bear the Montoy name was Pedro Montoy, a Basque soldier and navigator born around 1480. He accompanied Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León on his 1513 voyage to Florida, becoming one of the first Europeans to set foot in what is now the continental United States.

Another notable Montoy was María Montoy de Zúñiga (1601-1666), a wealthy landowner and philanthropist from Navarre. She donated extensively to churches and monasteries across northern Spain.

In the 18th century, Miguel Montoy (1712-1784) was a respected architect who helped design several churches and government buildings in Madrid and surrounding areas.

Moving into the 19th century, Manuel Montoy (1835-1912) was a Spanish military officer who achieved the rank of General and served in various colonial campaigns across Africa and the Caribbean.

Finally, José Montoy Ustaritz (1872-1948) was a Basque businessman who founded one of Spain's first automobile manufacturing companies in the early 1900s. His company produced luxury vehicles exported across Europe until the Spanish Civil War.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Montoy

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

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

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

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