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

Rivera, 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 Rivera surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rivera in America

Rivera is the 46th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rivera surname appeared 391,114 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 133 people would have the surname Rivera.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rivera 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 Rivera

The surname Rivera has its origins in Spain, stemming from the Spanish word "ribera," which means "riverbank" or "shore." It first emerged in the regions of Castile and Aragon during the medieval period, likely referring to individuals who lived near a river or along the banks of a river.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Rivera can be found in the "Libro de la Montería" (Book of the Hunt), a 14th-century manuscript commissioned by King Alfonso XI of Castile, which mentions several individuals with the surname.

The name Rivera is also found in historical documents from the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the "Repartimiento de Sevilla" (Distribution of Seville), a record of land grants made to settlers after the Reconquista of the city in 1248. This suggests that the surname was well-established in Spain during the Middle Ages.

Among the notable individuals with the surname Rivera throughout history are Diego Rivera (1886-1957), a renowned Mexican painter and a leading figure in the Mexican Muralism movement, and Anita Rivera (1924-2022), an American actress and dancer who was one of the last surviving Golden Age of Mexican cinema stars.

Another prominent bearer of the name was Fray Peyró Martínez de Rivera (1453-1521), a Spanish friar and diplomat who served as the ambassador of the Catholic Monarchs to the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century.

In the literary world, José Eustasio Rivera (1888-1928) was a Colombian novelist and poet, best known for his novel "La Vorágine" (The Vortex), considered a classic of Latin American literature.

The surname Rivera can also be found in other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Mexico, where it is one of the most common surnames, likely due to the large Spanish influence during the colonial period.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rivera

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

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

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

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