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

Nóbrega, 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 Nóbrega surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nóbrega in America

Nóbrega is the 31107th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nóbrega surname appeared 746 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 Nóbrega.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nóbrega 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 Nóbrega

The surname NOBREGA originated in Portugal. It is derived from the Portuguese words "nova" meaning "new" and "brega" referring to a type of uncultivated or uncultivated land. The name likely referred to someone who settled or cultivated new land.

NOBREGA is first recorded in the 13th century during the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. As the Portuguese expanded their territory southward, new settlements and land grants were established, which may have given rise to this surname.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Pero Vaz de Nobrega, a 15th century Portuguese explorer and navigator. He accompanied Pedro Alvares Cabral on the voyage that discovered Brazil in 1500.

Another prominent individual with this surname was Manuel da Nobrega, a Jesuit priest and missionary born in 1517. He co-founded the city of Sao Paulo in Brazil and worked extensively to convert indigenous peoples to Christianity.

In the 16th century, the name appears in records from the Portuguese colony of Goa in India. For example, Antonio da Nobrega was a judge and magistrate there in the 1550s.

Later bearers include Francisco da Nobrega, a 17th century Brazilian landowner and cattle rancher in Rio Grande do Norte. His descendants spread the name throughout northeastern Brazil.

Sebastiao da Nobrega was a Portuguese army officer who served in the Iberian Union wars against Spain in the early 1600s. He fought to restore Portuguese independence under the House of Braganza.

Over time, spelling variations emerged like Nobreza, Nóbrega, and de Nobrega. Place name origins like Nobregalva and Nobre also contributed meanings like "noble" to this surname's associations.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nóbrega

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

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

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

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