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

Tavares, 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 Tavares surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tavares in America

Tavares is the 2825th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tavares surname appeared 12,766 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Tavares.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tavares 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 Tavares

The surname Tavares originated in Portugal and is derived from the Latin name Tabularius, which means "keeper of records" or "scribe". This name was likely given to those who worked as record-keepers or scribes in medieval times.

Tavares is a Portuguese patronymic surname, meaning it was originally formed by adding the suffix "-es" to the given name of the father or ancestor. This practice was common in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Tavares can be found in the Livro Velho de Linhagens (Old Book of Lineages), a Portuguese genealogical manuscript from the 13th century. This document mentions several individuals with the surname, indicating that the name was already well-established in Portugal by that time.

In the 14th century, there are records of a noble family called Tavares de Sousa, who held lands and properties in the region of Entre-Douro-e-Minho in northern Portugal. This family is believed to have descended from a 12th-century knight named Rodrigo Tavares.

The surname Tavares also appears in the Livro do Armeiro-Mor (Book of the Chief Armorer), a Portuguese armorial from the 15th century, suggesting that some Tavares families were part of the nobility or had achieved a certain level of prominence.

Notable individuals with the surname Tavares throughout history include:

1. João Tavares de Vellez (c. 1370-1450), a Portuguese explorer and navigator who played a crucial role in the early Portuguese explorations along the West African coast.

2. Fernão Tavares (c. 1530-1590), a Portuguese military officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Ilha de Moçambique (now Mozambique) in the late 16th century.

3. António Tavares de Sousa (c. 1620-1680), a Portuguese writer and historian who authored several works on the history of Portugal and its overseas territories.

4. Francisco Tavares de Proença (1722-1797), a Portuguese mathematician and astronomer who contributed to the development of nautical science and the study of celestial bodies.

5. José Tavares de Macedo (1809-1859), a Brazilian politician, writer, and lawyer who served as a senator and played a significant role in the political and intellectual life of the Brazilian Empire.

The surname Tavares has also been associated with various place names in Portugal, such as Tavares (a parish in the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão) and Souto Tavares (a parish in the municipality of Moimenta da Beira).

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tavares

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

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

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

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