Find out how popular the last name Nieves is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Nieves.
A Spanish surname referring to snow or someone who lives near snow-capped mountains.
Nieves, 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 Nieves surname is from the 2010 census data.
Nieves is the 1004th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Nieves surname appeared 34,896 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 12 people would have the surname Nieves.
We can also compare 2010 data for Nieves 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.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
Rank | 1004 | 1146 | -13.21% |
Count | 34,896 | 28,011 | 21.89% |
Proportion per 100k | 11.83 | 10.38 | 13.06% |
The surname "NIEVES" originated in Spain during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Spanish word "nieve," which means "snow." The name likely referred to someone who lived in a snowy or mountainous region or had a fair complexion.
The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in various Spanish historical documents from the 13th and 14th centuries. One notable example is the "Libro de la Montería" (Book of the Hunt), written during the reign of King Alfonso XI in the 14th century, which mentions a person named Nieves de Castilla.
In the 15th century, the name appeared in the "Crónica de Juan II" (Chronicle of John II), which recorded the life and reign of King John II of Castile. The chronicle mentions a nobleman named Pedro Nieves, who was part of the king's court.
During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the name Nieves was carried to the New World by Spanish settlers and conquistadors. One of the earliest documented instances of the name in the Americas is Juan de Nieves, a Spanish soldier who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century.
The name Nieves has also been associated with various place names in Spain and Latin America. For example, there is a town called Nieves in the Spanish province of Segovia, and a city named Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows) in the Dominican Republic.
Notable individuals with the surname Nieves throughout history include:
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Nieves.
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:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Nieves was:
Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
---|---|---|
Non-Hispanic White Only | 5.66% | 1,975 |
Non-Hispanic Black Only | 1.14% | 398 |
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | 0.61% | 213 |
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.09% | 31 |
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | 0.21% | 73 |
Hispanic Origin | 92.28% | 32,202 |
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 Nieves has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
White | 5.66% | 6.19% | -8.95% |
Black | 1.14% | 1.15% | -0.87% |
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.61% | 0.66% | -7.87% |
American Indian and Alaskan Native | 0.09% | 0.09% | 0.00% |
Two or More Races | 0.21% | 0.44% | -70.77% |
Hispanic | 92.28% | 91.48% | 0.87% |
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 Nieves was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Nieves, please contact us.
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!
<a href="http://namecensus.com/last-names/nieves-surname-popularity/">Nieves last name popularity, history, and meaning</a>
"Nieves last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 14, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/nieves-surname-popularity/.
"Nieves last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/nieves-surname-popularity/. Accessed 14 December, 2024
Nieves last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/nieves-surname-popularity/.
Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.
Simple as that.