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

Nievas, 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 Nievas surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nievas in America

Nievas is the 136449th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nievas surname appeared 123 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 Nievas.

The history of the last name Nievas

The surname Nievas originated in Spain, specifically in the region of Castile. Its roots can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was derived from the Spanish word "nieve," meaning snow. This suggests that the earliest bearers of this name may have lived in areas with particularly snowy or mountainous terrain.

One of the earliest recorded mentions of the Nievas surname appears in the Becerro de las Behetrías, a historical document from the 14th century that catalogued landowners and vassals in the kingdom of Castile. This document includes references to individuals with the surname Nievas holding lands in the province of Burgos.

In the 15th century, a notable figure named Pedro de Nievas was mentioned in the chronicles of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Pedro de Nievas was a prominent military commander who participated in the Reconquista, the campaign to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Moorish rule.

During the 16th century, the Nievas surname appeared in various records from the Spanish colonial era. One notable individual was Juan de Nievas, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s.

Another significant bearer of the Nievas surname was Miguel de Nievas, a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Miguel de Nievas was renowned for his religious artworks and is considered one of the most prominent artists of the Spanish Golden Age.

In the 18th century, the Nievas surname gained recognition through the work of Antonio de Nievas, a Spanish botanist and naturalist. Antonio de Nievas was born in 1724 and made significant contributions to the study of flora in the Americas, particularly in the region of New Spain (present-day Mexico).

As the Nievas surname spread throughout Spain and its colonies, it also underwent various spelling variations, such as Nieva, Nievas, and Nievas-Conde. Some of these variations were influenced by the incorporation of place names or titles into the surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nievas

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

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

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

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