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

Peon, 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 Peon surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Peon in America

Peon is the 98553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Peon surname appeared 184 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 Peon.

We can also compare 2010 data for Peon 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 Peon

The surname PEON has its origins in the Spanish language and can be traced back to the 15th century. It is believed to have derived from the Spanish word "peón," which originally referred to a foot soldier or infantry man in medieval times. This term likely originated from the Latin word "pedo," meaning "on foot."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the PEON surname can be found in the Aragonese Chancery Registers from the late 15th century, where it appears as "Peon." It was predominantly used in the regions of Aragon and Castile during this period.

In the 16th century, the PEON name began to appear in various historical records across Spain, including tax rolls and municipal documents. Some notable individuals bearing this surname from this era include Pedro Peon, a soldier who participated in the conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s.

As the Spanish Empire expanded, the PEON name spread to the Americas and other colonies. In the 18th century, Juan Peon, a explorer and cartographer, was commissioned by the Spanish Crown to map the Florida Panhandle region.

During the colonial era in Latin America, the term "peon" also came to be associated with a system of debt servitude, where workers were bound to landowners or employers to pay off debts. This connotation likely contributed to the surname's perceived lower social status in some regions.

In the 19th century, the PEON surname was found in various parts of the Spanish-speaking world, including notable individuals such as Manuel Peon, a Cuban writer and journalist born in 1834, and Jesús Peon y Contreras, a Mexican politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the late 1800s.

Other notable individuals with the PEON surname include Julio Peon, a Uruguayan poet and writer born in 1888, and José Peon del Valle, a Mexican artist and muralist active in the early 20th century.

Overall, the surname PEON has a rich history rooted in the Spanish language and culture, with its origins dating back to medieval times and its spread facilitated by the expansion of the Spanish Empire across the Americas and beyond.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Peon

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Peon, 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!