Turcios last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Turcios

A Spanish surname of uncertain origin, possibly derived from a place name or a nickname for a fierce person.

Turcios, 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 Turcios surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Turcios in America

Turcios is the 4968th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Turcios surname appeared 7,073 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Turcios.

We can also compare 2010 data for Turcios 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 4968 7450 -39.97%
Count 7,073 4,118 52.81%
Proportion per 100k 2.40 1.53 44.27%

The history of the last name Turcios

The surname Turcios originated in Spain, with its earliest records dating back to the 15th century. It is believed to have derived from the Spanish word "turcio," which means "a person from Turkey" or "a person of Turkish descent." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who had Turkish ancestry or connections.

The first recorded instance of the Turcios surname can be found in the town of Guadalajara, Spain, where a family with this name resided in the late 1400s. Over time, the name spread to other regions of Spain, particularly in the southern provinces of Andalusia and Extremadura.

In the 16th century, the Turcios name appeared in several historical documents, including birth and marriage records, land deeds, and court proceedings. One notable mention is in the archives of Seville, where a merchant named Juan Turcios is recorded as having traded with the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

As the Spanish Empire expanded its territories across the Atlantic, some individuals bearing the Turcios surname migrated to the New World. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there are records of Turcios families settling in various regions of Latin America, including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

One of the earliest known individuals with the Turcios surname was Pedro Turcios, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquest of Guatemala in the early 1500s. He is mentioned in several historical accounts of the time.

Another notable figure was Miguel Turcios, a Guatemalan military officer and politician who played a significant role in the Central American Union in the 19th century. He was born in 1804 and served as the President of Honduras from 1859 to 1863.

In the 20th century, Farabundo Martí Turcios, a Salvadoran revolutionary and political leader, became a prominent figure in the struggle for social and economic reform in El Salvador. He was born in 1893 and was executed by the Salvadoran government in 1932 for his involvement in a peasant uprising.

Other individuals with the Turcios surname include José Manuel Turcios, a Honduran poet and writer who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Sebastián Turcios, a Guatemalan painter and artist known for his vibrant depictions of indigenous life and culture in the early 20th century.

While the Turcios surname has its roots in Spain and a potential connection to Turkish ancestry, it has since become more widely associated with Latin American countries, particularly in Central America, where it has been carried by several influential figures throughout history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Turcios

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

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 Turcios was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 3.03% 214
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.47% 33
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.07% 5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.11% 8
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.07% 5
Hispanic Origin 96.25% 6,808

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 Turcios has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 3.03% 3.57% -16.36%
Black 0.47% 0.34% 32.10%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.07% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.11% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.07% 0.66% -161.64%
Hispanic 96.25% 95.24% 1.05%

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

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

Reference this page

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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!

"Turcios last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on October 11, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/turcios-surname-popularity/.

"Turcios last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/turcios-surname-popularity/. Accessed 11 October, 2024

Turcios last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/turcios-surname-popularity/.

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