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

Ruiz, 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 Ruiz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ruiz in America

Ruiz is the 89th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ruiz surname appeared 238,234 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 81 people would have the surname Ruiz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ruiz 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 Ruiz

The surname Ruiz has its origins in Spain, dating back to the 8th century when the Iberian Peninsula was under Moorish rule. It is derived from the Spanish word "Ruy," which is a variant of the Germanic name Roderic or Rodrigo. The name Ruy was relatively common among Christians living in areas controlled by the Moors.

During the Reconquista, as Christian territories were gradually reclaimed from the Moors, the name Ruiz emerged as a patronymic surname, indicating "son of Ruy." It was particularly prevalent in the regions of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre. The earliest recorded instances of the surname can be found in medieval documents from the 10th and 11th centuries.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name Ruiz was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid, a Castilian nobleman and military leader who lived from 1043 to 1099. He played a crucial role in the reconquest of Valencia from the Moors and has been celebrated in numerous literary works, including the epic poem "El Cantar de Mío Cid."

Another notable figure was Hernán Ruiz de Alarcón, a Spanish architect and sculptor born in 1492. He was responsible for designing and constructing several significant Renaissance buildings in Seville, including the Casa de Contratación and the iconic Giralda bell tower of the Seville Cathedral.

Juan Ruiz, also known as the Arcipreste de Hita, was a 14th-century Spanish poet and cleric renowned for his satirical and didactic work "Libro de Buen Amor" (Book of Good Love). Born around 1283, he is considered one of the most influential poets of the medieval period in Spain.

Francisco Ruiz de Velasco, born in 1589, was a Spanish military officer and colonial administrator who served as the viceroy of New Spain (present-day Mexico) from 1648 to 1653. He played a significant role in the governance of the Spanish colonial territories in the Americas.

In the 19th century, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca (1754-1835) was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator who served as the viceroy of New Spain from 1816 to 1821, a turbulent period marked by the Mexican War of Independence.

The surname Ruiz has been widely dispersed throughout the Spanish-speaking world, particularly in Latin American countries with strong historical ties to Spain, such as Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Argentina.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ruiz

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ruiz, 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!