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

Nobriga, 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 Nobriga surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nobriga in America

Nobriga is the 30863rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nobriga surname appeared 754 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 Nobriga.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nobriga 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 Nobriga

The surname NOBRIGA originated in Portugal during the Middle Ages, deriving from the placename Nobriga, a region in the district of Leiria. This placename likely comes from the Latin word "nobilis," meaning noble or illustrious, suggesting the area may have had connections to nobility or aristocracy.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname NOBRIGA appears in a 13th-century manuscript detailing land grants in the region, where a nobleman named Afonso NOBRIGA is mentioned as a landowner. This indicates the name's use among the Portuguese gentry during this era.

In the 15th century, records show a Pedro NOBRIGA serving as a royal courtier under King Afonso V of Portugal. His son, João NOBRIGA, born in 1472, became a renowned explorer and navigator, accompanying Vasco da Gama on his historic voyage to India in 1498.

During the Age of Discovery, the NOBRIGA name continued to be associated with maritime exploration and colonial expansion. In 1521, Duarte NOBRIGA, born in 1487, was appointed as the first Portuguese governor of the Moluccas Islands in Indonesia.

Another notable figure was Father Manuel NOBRIGA, a Jesuit priest born in 1517, who played a pivotal role in the evangelization efforts in Brazil during the 16th century. He is recognized as one of the founders of the city of São Paulo.

In the 17th century, a branch of the NOBRIGA family settled in the Azores archipelago, where they became prominent landowners and merchants. One member, António NOBRIGA, born in 1623, served as the mayor of Angra do Heroísmo, the capital of the Azores, in the late 1600s.

As the NOBRIGA lineage spread across Portugal and its colonial territories, the name underwent various spellings, such as Nobrega, Nobraga, and Nobrigua, reflecting regional linguistic variations and scribal errors in historical documents.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nobriga

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

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

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

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