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

Muya, 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 Muya surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Muya in America

Muya is the 59742nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Muya surname appeared 338 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 Muya.

The history of the last name Muya

The surname MUYA has its origins in the Basque region of Spain and France, dating back to the 9th century. The name is derived from the Basque word "muga," which means "boundary" or "frontier," indicating that the earliest bearers of this name may have lived near a border area.

In the early Middle Ages, the Basque Country was a region of relative autonomy, and surnames were often derived from local place names or descriptive elements associated with the environment or occupation of the family. The name MUYA likely referred to a family that resided near a territorial boundary or frontier area.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname MUYA can be found in a document from the Kingdom of Navarre, dated 1215, which mentions a landowner named Sancho de Muya. This suggests that the name was already well-established in the region by the 13th century.

During the 14th century, the name appears in various records from the Basque provinces, such as Juan Muya, a merchant from Bilbao, who was mentioned in a trade agreement in 1347. The name also appears in the Libro de las Mercedes, a historical record from the Basque town of Vitoria, which lists several individuals with the surname MUYA in the late 15th century.

One notable figure bearing the surname MUYA was Martín de Muya, a Basque soldier who fought in the Conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century. He was born in the town of Eibar around 1490 and participated in several battles against the Aztecs before settling in New Spain.

Another prominent bearer of the name was Pedro de Muya, a Basque navigator and explorer who accompanied the Spanish expedition led by Juan Sebastián Elcano in the early 1500s. He played a crucial role in the first circumnavigation of the globe, completed in 1522, after the death of Ferdinand Magellan.

In the 17th century, the surname MUYA appears in records from the Basque town of Hernani, where a family of landowners and merchants bearing this name held significant influence. One member, Juan Bautista de Muya, born in 1635, was a prominent merchant who traded with the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

The name MUYA also spread to other regions of Spain and Latin America due to migration and colonial expansion. In the 18th century, there are records of individuals with this surname in the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Argentina, likely descended from Basque immigrants or settlers.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Muya

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

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 Muya 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.

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

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

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