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

Oviedo, 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 Oviedo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Oviedo in America

Oviedo is the 4362nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Oviedo surname appeared 8,145 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Oviedo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Oviedo 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 Oviedo

The surname Oviedo originates from Spain and is believed to have its roots in the Asturian region during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the city of Oviedo, the capital of the Principality of Asturias, which was an important center during the Reconquista period.

The name Oviedo itself comes from the Latin word "Ovetus," which refers to the abundance of sheep in the area. The city was originally known as "Oveto" or "Ovietum" in ancient Roman times, eventually evolving into its current form.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Oviedo can be found in the Cartulario de San Vicente de Oviedo, a collection of documents from the 9th to 13th centuries related to the monastery of San Vicente in Oviedo. This suggests that the surname was already in use during the medieval period.

In the 13th century, a notable figure with the surname Oviedo was Juan Oviedo, a Spanish poet and troubadour who wrote in the Galician-Portuguese language. His works were included in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda, one of the most important collections of medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry.

Another historical figure was Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1478-1557), a Spanish historian and writer who served as the Governor of the Indies and chronicled the early Spanish conquest of the Americas. His work, "Historia General y Natural de las Indias," is considered a valuable source of information about the indigenous peoples and natural history of the New World.

In the 16th century, Juan de Oviedo y Baños (1565-1625) was a Spanish painter and architect who worked in Seville and contributed to the construction of several notable buildings, including the Iglesia del Salvador in Seville.

During the 17th century, José de Oviedo y Portal (1670-1738) was a prominent Spanish architect who designed several churches and buildings in Madrid, including the Palacio de Monteleón and the Church of San Ginés.

In more recent times, Juan Oviedo (1905-1988) was a Cuban composer and pianist who made significant contributions to the development of Cuban music, particularly in the genres of son and danzón.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Oviedo

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

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

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

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