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

Pernas, 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 Pernas surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Pernas in America

Pernas is the 58182nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Pernas surname appeared 349 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 Pernas.

We can also compare 2010 data for Pernas 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 Pernas

The surname Pernas originated in Portugal and Spain, appearing as early as the 12th century. It is derived from the Latin word "perna," meaning "leg" or "haunch." This name likely referred to someone with a physical characteristic, such as a strong or distinctive leg, or perhaps a person who worked in an occupation involving the use of legs, such as a runner or messenger.

Pernas is believed to have roots in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in the regions of Galicia in Spain and northern Portugal. It is thought to have emerged as a surname during the medieval period when hereditary family names became more common.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pernas can be found in the medieval Portuguese document "Livro Velho de Linhagens" (Old Book of Lineages), which dates back to the 13th century. This text mentions individuals with the surname Pernas, suggesting its presence in Portugal during that time.

In the 16th century, the name Pernas appears in records from the Spanish city of Seville, indicating its spread and usage in different parts of the Iberian Peninsula. During this period, a notable figure bearing the surname Pernas was Pero Pernas, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s.

Another historical figure with the surname Pernas was João Pernas, a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his famous voyage to India in the late 15th century. João Pernas is credited with being one of the first Europeans to set foot on the Indian subcontinent.

In the 17th century, the name Pernas surfaced in colonial records from Spanish and Portuguese territories in the Americas, reflecting the migration of individuals with this surname to the New World.

Fast forward to the 19th century, and we find José Pernas, a Spanish painter and artist known for his portraits and religious works, who lived from 1815 to 1880.

More recently, in the 20th century, there was Raquel Pernas, a Cuban writer and journalist born in 1924, whose works explored themes of identity and cultural heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Pernas

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

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

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

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