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

Trego, 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 Trego surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Trego in America

Trego is the 13944th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Trego surname appeared 2,165 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Trego.

We can also compare 2010 data for Trego 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 Trego

The surname Trego is believed to have originated in England, with its roots dating back to the late medieval period. It is thought to have derived from a place name, a common practice during that era when surnames were being adopted.

One theory suggests that Trego is a variant spelling of the Old English word "treow," meaning tree or wood, potentially indicating that the name's bearers hailed from a forested area or lived near a significant tree or grove. Another possibility is that it stems from a location named Tregoe or Trego, though records of such places are scarce and their exact whereabouts uncertain.

Early mentions of the Trego name can be found in various historical documents, including parish records and tax rolls from the 16th and 17th centuries. One notable figure was John Trego, a merchant and ship owner from Bristol, England, who lived in the late 16th century and was involved in the thriving maritime trade of that time.

As the Trego family spread across England, variations in spelling emerged, such as Trigo, Treago, and Tregoe. These variations often reflected regional dialects and the inconsistent spelling practices of the era. One notable bearer of the Tregoe spelling was William Tregoe, a clergyman from Oxfordshire who lived in the early 17th century and served as the vicar of several parishes.

In the 18th century, the Trego surname found its way to North America, with families settling in various colonies, including Pennsylvania and Virginia. One of the earliest recorded instances is that of Thomas Trego, who was born in England in 1675 and later emigrated to Pennsylvania, where he became a prosperous farmer and landowner.

Another noteworthy individual was James Trego, a British military officer born in 1737, who served in the American Revolutionary War and later settled in Canada after the conflict. His descendants played a significant role in the development of Upper Canada (now Ontario).

As the centuries passed, the Trego name continued to spread across the globe, with bearers making their mark in various fields. One such figure was John Trego, an American painter born in 1853, who gained recognition for his historical and genre paintings depicting scenes from American life.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Trego

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

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

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

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