Find out how popular the last name Rivera Pérez 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 Pérez.

Rivera Pérez, 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 Pérez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rivera Pérez in America

Rivera Pérez is the 60636th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rivera Pérez surname appeared 332 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 Pérez.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rivera Pérez 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 Pérez

The surname RIVERAPEREZ is of Spanish origin, tracing its roots back to the medieval period of the Iberian Peninsula. It is a double-barreled surname, combining the two distinct family names Rivera and Perez.

The first component, Rivera, is derived from the Spanish word "ribera," which means "riverbank" or "riverside." This suggests that the earliest bearers of this name may have resided near a river or were associated with a river-related occupation or activity.

The second component, Perez, is a patronymic surname, meaning it originated as a way to identify an individual as the son of someone named Pedro. Patronymic surnames were common in medieval Spain, and Perez was one of the most prevalent, indicating the popularity of the name Pedro at the time.

While there are no specific historical records or manuscripts that explicitly mention the surname RIVERAPEREZ, the individual components of Rivera and Perez have a long history in Spanish documentation.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname Rivera was Diego de Rivera, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 16th century.

As for the Perez component, there are numerous notable figures throughout Spanish history, such as Pedro Perez de Guzmán, a 13th-century nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Reconquista against the Moors.

Another prominent individual with the Perez surname was Gonzalo Perez, a 16th-century Spanish poet and diplomat who served as the secretary to King Philip II.

In the realm of art, Juan Gris (born José Victoriano González Pérez in 1887) was a renowned Spanish Cubist painter, renowned for his innovative use of geometric shapes and fragmented forms.

Moving into the 20th century, Antonio Pérez Longoria (1896-1971) was a Mexican revolutionary and politician who played a crucial role in the Mexican Revolution and later served as the governor of the state of Michoacán.

It is worth noting that while the combination of Rivera and Perez into the double-barreled surname RIVERAPEREZ is not uncommon in Spanish-speaking regions, the specific origin and historical significance of this particular combination may vary from family to family.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rivera Pérez

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

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 Pérez 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 Pérez 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 Pérez 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 Pérez, 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!