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

Ovadia, 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 Ovadia surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ovadia in America

Ovadia is the 43369th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ovadia surname appeared 498 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 Ovadia.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ovadia 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 Ovadia

The surname Ovadia originated from the Hebrew language and can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Hebrew name Obadiah, which means "servant of God." The name was particularly common among Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East.

The earliest known record of the surname Ovadia dates back to the 12th century in Spain, where it was found in Jewish communities. During this time, the name was also spelled as Obadiah or Ovadiahu. As Jewish communities spread across Europe, the name traveled with them, taking on various spellings and pronunciations in different regions.

One notable historical reference to the surname Ovadia can be found in the Cairo Geniza, a collection of Jewish manuscripts discovered in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, Egypt. This collection contains documents from the 9th to 19th centuries, including references to individuals with the surname Ovadia.

In the 13th century, a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher named Moses ben Ovadia flourished in Spain. He was known for his contributions to Jewish law and philosophy. Another notable individual with the surname Ovadia was Jacob ben Ovadia, a 14th-century Jewish scholar from Catalonia, Spain.

During the 15th century, the surname Ovadia was also found in Italy, particularly in the Jewish communities of Rome and Venice. One notable figure from this period was Judah Ovadia, a Jewish scholar and physician who lived in Rome in the late 15th century.

In the 16th century, the surname Ovadia appeared in the Ottoman Empire, where it was sometimes spelled as Ovadyah or Ovadia. One prominent individual with this surname was Joseph Ovadia, a Jewish scholar and rabbi from Salonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece) who lived in the late 16th century.

Throughout history, the surname Ovadia has been associated with various place names and regions where Jewish communities have resided. For example, there were individuals with the surname Ovadia who lived in the towns of Safed and Tiberias in present-day Israel, as well as in cities like Aleppo and Damascus in Syria.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ovadia

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

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

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

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