Rivera-González last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Rivera-González 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-González.

Meaning of Rivera-González

A Spanish surname derived from a geographic location or place name.

Rivera-González, 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-González surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rivera-González in America

Rivera-González is the 61436th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rivera-González surname appeared 327 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 Rivera-González.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rivera-González 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 61436 147095 -82.15%
Count 327 103 104.19%
Proportion per 100k 0.11 0.04 93.33%

The history of the last name Rivera-González

The surname RIVERAGONZALEZ is a Spanish compound name with roots in both the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. It is believed to have originated in the late 15th or early 16th century, during the period of Spanish exploration and colonization of the Americas.

The first part of the name, "Rivera," is derived from the Spanish word "ribera," which means "riverbank" or "shore." This suggests that the name may have originated from a family or clan that lived near a river or coastal area. The second part, "Gonzalez," is a patronymic surname, meaning "son of Gonzalo," a common given name in Spain derived from the Germanic name "Gundisalvus."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name RIVERAGONZALEZ appears in the 16th-century Spanish colonial records of Mexico. A prominent figure bearing this name was Diego Rivera Gonzalez, a Spanish conquistador and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expeditions to the Mexican mainland in the 1520s.

In the 17th century, the name RIVERAGONZALEZ can be found in the records of the Spanish settlements in the Caribbean, particularly in the colonial archives of Cuba and Puerto Rico. One notable individual from this period was Juan Rivera Gonzalez, a Spanish soldier and landowner who served as the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 1679 to 1682.

As the Spanish Empire expanded its influence in the Americas, the name RIVERAGONZALEZ became more widespread, appearing in various regions of Latin America and the Caribbean. In the 18th century, a prominent figure with this surname was Pedro Rivera Gonzalez, a Mexican landowner and rancher who played a pivotal role in the development of the cattle industry in the region of Nuevo León.

In the 19th century, the name RIVERAGONZALEZ was associated with several notable figures in the literary and artistic circles of Latin America. One such individual was José Rivera Gonzalez, a Cuban poet and journalist who published several collections of poems and essays during the Cuban independence movement of the late 19th century.

Another notable bearer of the name RIVERAGONZALEZ was Diego Rivera, the renowned Mexican painter and muralist, who was born in 1886 and is celebrated for his large-scale murals depicting Mexican history and culture. While his full name was Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, he is widely known by his simplified name, Diego Rivera.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rivera-González

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

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-González was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.00% 0
Hispanic Origin 99.39% 325

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-González has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White (S)% (S)% (S)%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Hispanic 99.39% 96.12% 3.35%

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-González 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-González, 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!

"Rivera-González last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 11, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/riveragonzalez-surname-popularity/.

"Rivera-González last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/riveragonzalez-surname-popularity/. Accessed 11 November, 2024

Rivera-González last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/riveragonzalez-surname-popularity/.

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