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

Tesfamariam, 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 Tesfamariam surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tesfamariam in America

Tesfamariam is the 53419th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tesfamariam surname appeared 387 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 Tesfamariam.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tesfamariam 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 Tesfamariam

The surname Tesfamariam originates from Eritrea, a country located in the Horn of Africa. It traces its roots back to the ancient Ge'ez language, which was the lingua franca of the Axumite Kingdom, a powerful empire that ruled parts of modern-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Yemen from the 1st to the 8th century AD.

Tesfamariam is a compound word derived from the Ge'ez terms "Tesfa" and "Mariam." "Tesfa" means "hope" or "grace," while "Mariam" is the Ge'ez equivalent of the name "Mary," the mother of Jesus Christ in Christian tradition. Thus, the surname Tesfamariam can be interpreted as "Hope of Mary" or "Grace of Mary."

Historically, the name Tesfamariam has been associated with the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, one of the oldest Christian denominations in the world. It is believed to have been adopted as a surname by families with close ties to the church or those who revered the Virgin Mary.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tesfamariam can be found in the chronicles of the Bahri Sultans, who ruled over the Kingdom of Solomonids from the late 13th to the early 16th century. The chronicles mention a prominent Eritrean nobleman named Tesfamariam Gebremichael, who served as a military commander under Sultan Jamal ad-Din II in the late 14th century.

Another notable figure bearing the surname Tesfamariam was Abuna Tesfamariam, a respected Eritrean Orthodox Bishop who lived in the 18th century. He was known for his efforts in promoting education and preserving the ancient Ge'ez language and literature.

During the Italian colonial period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several Eritreans with the surname Tesfamariam played important roles in the resistance against foreign occupation. One such figure was Tesfamariam Kahsay, a prominent leader of the Eritrean Liberation Movement, who fought against Italian colonial rule in the 1940s.

In more recent times, the name Tesfamariam has been carried by several prominent Eritrean intellectuals, artists, and athletes. Tesfamariam Yohanes, born in 1938, was a renowned Eritrean poet and writer whose works explored themes of nationalism, identity, and resistance against oppression.

Tesfamariam Kidane, born in 1962, is a celebrated Eritrean long-distance runner who won multiple international marathons and held the world record for the 30K distance in the late 1980s.

While the surname Tesfamariam has deep historical roots in Eritrea, it has also gained recognition globally due to the Eritrean diaspora. Individuals bearing this name can be found in various parts of the world, carrying on the cultural and linguistic heritage of their ancestral homeland.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tesfamariam

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

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

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

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