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

Valtierra, 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 Valtierra surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Valtierra in America

Valtierra is the 9132nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Valtierra surname appeared 3,576 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 Valtierra.

We can also compare 2010 data for Valtierra 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 Valtierra

The surname Valtierra has its origins in Spain, dating back to the medieval period. It is derived from two Spanish words, "val" meaning valley and "tierra" meaning land or earth. The name likely originated as a topographic surname, referring to someone who lived in or near a valley.

One of the earliest known references to the name Valtierra can be found in the "Becerro de las Behetrías de Castilla" (Book of Bequests of Castile), a document from the 14th century that recorded landowners and their properties. This suggests that the name was already in use among the Spanish nobility during that time.

In the 16th century, during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, several individuals with the surname Valtierra were recorded as settlers in the New World. One notable example is Juan de Valtierra, a conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés in the early 1500s.

Another historical figure bearing the name Valtierra was Pedro Valtierra, a Spanish painter and engraver from the 17th century. He was known for his religious works and contributed to the decoration of several churches in Madrid and Toledo.

In the 18th century, a prominent member of the Valtierra family was José de Valtierra y Barahona (1680-1756), a Spanish military officer who served as the Governor of Cartagena de Indias, a strategic port city in present-day Colombia.

Moving into the 19th century, Mariano Valtierra (1784-1858) was a Mexican politician and military leader who played a role in the Mexican War of Independence against Spain. He served as the Governor of Nuevo León and was a supporter of the federalist movement.

Throughout its history, the surname Valtierra has also been associated with various place names in Spain, such as Valtierra, a municipality in the province of Navarra, and Valtierra de Albacastro, a village in the province of Cuenca.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Valtierra

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

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

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

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