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

Muscarella, 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 Muscarella surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Muscarella in America

Muscarella is the 18486th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Muscarella surname appeared 1,495 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Muscarella.

We can also compare 2010 data for Muscarella 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 Muscarella

The surname Muscarella has its origins in Italy, with the earliest records dating back to the 14th century. It is believed to have originated from the Italian word "musca," meaning fly, and was likely an occupational surname given to someone who worked with or dealt in flies, such as a beekeeper or a maker of fly traps.

The name was first found in the region of Campania, particularly in the area around Naples. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in a document from 1382, which mentions a certain Nicola Muscarella, a resident of the town of Salerno.

As the name spread throughout Italy, it underwent various spelling variations, including Muscarelli, Muscariello, and Musciarelli. These variations often reflected the local dialects and pronunciation of different regions.

In the 15th century, the name appeared in several historical records, such as a document from 1432 that mentioned a Giovanni Muscarella, a merchant from the city of Amalfi. Another notable figure was Antonio Muscarella, a renowned painter born in Naples in 1457, whose works can still be found in various churches and galleries throughout Italy.

The Muscarella name also found its way into the annals of Italian literature, with a reference to a poet named Giacomo Muscarella in a collection of poems published in Venice in 1569.

By the 16th century, the name had spread beyond Italy, with records showing individuals bearing the surname in Spain and Portugal. One such example is Pedro Muscarella, a Spanish explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico in the early 1500s.

As the centuries passed, the Muscarella name continued to appear in various parts of Europe and beyond. Notable figures included Giuseppe Muscarella, an Italian architect born in 1707, who designed several churches and palaces in Naples, and Maria Muscarella, a renowned opera singer from Milan, who performed in the late 19th century.

In more recent times, the name has been associated with academics and scholars, such as Vincent Muscarella, an American archaeologist born in 1929, who specialized in the study of ancient Near Eastern civilizations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Muscarella

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

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

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

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