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

Peñuela, 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 Peñuela surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Peñuela in America

Peñuela is the 52037th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Peñuela surname appeared 399 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 Peñuela.

We can also compare 2010 data for Peñuela 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 Peñuela

The surname Penuela has its origins in Spain, specifically in the region of Andalusia. It dates back to the medieval period, when surnames were becoming more common among the general population. The name is derived from the Spanish word "peñuela," which means "small rock" or "rocky outcrop."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Penuela can be found in the Repartimiento de Sevilla, a document from the 13th century that recorded the distribution of land and properties in Seville after the city was conquered by the Christian forces during the Reconquista. The document mentions several individuals with the surname Penuela, indicating that the name was already established in the region by that time.

In the 15th century, a prominent figure with the surname Penuela was Juan de Penuela, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquest of the Canary Islands in the early 1400s. He was born around 1380 and played a crucial role in the subjugation of the indigenous Guanche population on the island of La Palma.

Another notable individual with the surname Penuela was Pedro de Penuela, a Spanish soldier and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico in the early 16th century. He was born in Seville around 1490 and participated in several battles against the Aztec forces, eventually settling in the region of modern-day Mexico.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the surname Penuela spread throughout Spain and its colonies in the Americas. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in the New World can be found in the archives of the Spanish colony of New Spain (modern-day Mexico and parts of the United States). In 1575, a man named Alonso de Penuela was listed as a resident of the town of Puebla de los Ángeles, now known as Puebla, Mexico.

Another notable figure with the surname Penuela was Rodrigo de Penuela, a Spanish military officer who served in the Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War against the Dutch in the late 16th century. He was born in Seville in 1550 and participated in several campaigns and battles before retiring from military service in the early 1600s.

As the centuries passed, the surname Penuela continued to be found in various parts of Spain and its former colonies, with individuals bearing the name making contributions in various fields, including literature, politics, and the arts.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Peñuela

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!