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

Puerta, 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 Puerta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Puerta in America

Puerta is the 19823rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Puerta surname appeared 1,356 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 Puerta.

We can also compare 2010 data for Puerta 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 Puerta

The surname Puerta originated in Spain and dates back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "puerta," which means "door" or "gate." This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who lived near a gate or entrance to a town or castle.

The earliest known record of the Puerta surname appears in the Libro de la Montería, a 14th-century hunting manuscript compiled by King Alfonso XI of Castile. It mentions a person named Fernán Pérez de la Puerta.

In the 15th century, there are records of a nobleman named Juan de la Puerta who fought in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. He was born around 1420 in Seville and served under King Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Another notable figure with this surname was Cristóbal de la Puerta, a Spanish explorer and navigator born in Seville in 1522. He accompanied Francisco Pizarro on his expeditions to Peru and is said to have been one of the first Europeans to see the Pacific Ocean from the shores of Panama.

During the 16th century, the Puerta surname also appears in records from the Spanish colonies in the Americas. One example is Juan de la Puerta, a Spanish settler who arrived in Mexico in the 1540s and became a prominent landowner in the region of Guanajuato.

In the 17th century, there was a renowned Spanish painter named Pedro de la Puerta, born in Madrid in 1622. He was known for his religious works and portraits, and his paintings can be found in various churches and museums in Spain.

While the Puerta surname originated in Spain, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly Latin American countries with Spanish colonial roots. However, the earliest and most significant historical references to this name can be traced back to the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish conquest and exploration of the Americas.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Puerta

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

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

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

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