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

Nuanez, 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 Nuanez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nuanez in America

Nuanez is the 60960th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nuanez surname appeared 330 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 Nuanez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nuanez 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 Nuanez

The surname NUANEZ has its origins in the Spanish language and can be traced back to the regions of Spain and Portugal. It is believed to have originated as a patronymic surname, derived from the given name Nuño, which was a popular name during the Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name NUANEZ can be found in the "Libro de las Behetrías" (Book of Landholdings), a document from the 14th century that documented land ownership and feudal rights in the Kingdom of Castile. This suggests that the name was already well-established by that time.

During the 15th century, the surname NUANEZ gained prominence with the exploits of Juan Núñez de Lara, a Spanish nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the conquest of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula. His descendants continued to use the NUANEZ surname, contributing to its widespread recognition.

In the 16th century, another notable figure with the NUANEZ surname was Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer and author who is famous for his accounts of the ill-fated Narváez expedition to Florida and his subsequent journey across North America. He was born in 1490 and died around 1559.

The NUANEZ surname also has its roots in Portugal, where it is often spelled as NUNES or NUNES VAZ. One of the most famous Portuguese bearers of this name was Pedro Nunes, a renowned mathematician, cosmographer, and professor at the University of Coimbra. He lived from 1502 to 1578 and made significant contributions to the fields of navigation and cartography.

Another distinguished individual with the NUANEZ surname was Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, a Spanish conquistador and governor of the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia (present-day western Mexico) in the 16th century. He was born in 1490 and played a pivotal role in the Spanish conquest of the region, though his methods were often brutal and controversial.

Over the centuries, the NUANEZ surname has spread beyond Spain and Portugal to other parts of the world, particularly Latin America and the United States, due to migration and exploration. It remains a prominent surname in these regions, carrying with it a rich history and legacy of its Iberian origins.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nuanez

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

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

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

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