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

Morantes, 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 Morantes surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Morantes in America

Morantes is the 69996th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Morantes surname appeared 280 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 Morantes.

We can also compare 2010 data for Morantes 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 Morantes

The surname Morantes is of Spanish origin, with its roots tracing back to the medieval era. It is believed to have originated in the region of Andalusia, southern Spain, where it was likely an occupational name derived from the Spanish word "morant," which referred to a person who lived in or was associated with a mulberry grove or plantation.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the Morantes surname can be found in the 14th century Catalan manuscript "Libre del Repartiment," which documented the distribution of land and properties in the newly conquered territories of Valencia and Mallorca. This suggests that bearers of the name may have been among the settlers or landowners in these regions during that time.

In the 16th century, a notable figure with the surname Morantes was Pedro de Morantes, a Spanish soldier and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico. He is credited with being one of the first Europeans to encounter and document the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

Another prominent individual bearing the Morantes name was Juan de Morantes y Villarreal, a 17th century Spanish nobleman and military officer who served as the governor of the province of Veracruz in New Spain (present-day Mexico). He played a significant role in the defense of the region against pirate attacks and fortified several coastal towns.

In the 18th century, the Morantes surname appeared in the historical records of Cuba, where a family by the name of Morantes y Posada held extensive landholdings and was involved in the sugar industry. One member, José María Morantes y Posada, was a prominent plantation owner and served as a magistrate in the city of Santiago de Cuba.

During the 19th century, a notable bearer of the Morantes surname was Manuel Morantes, a Spanish painter and engraver who was renowned for his works depicting landscapes and scenes from daily life in Andalusia. His paintings are considered an important part of the romantic realist movement in Spanish art.

While the Morantes name has its origins in Spain, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly to Latin American countries with historical ties to the Spanish Empire. However, its earliest recorded instances and most significant historical figures remain rooted in the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish colonial territories of the Americas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Morantes

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!