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

Vasque, 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 Vasque surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Vasque in America

Vasque is the 102197th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Vasque surname appeared 176 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 Vasque.

We can also compare 2010 data for Vasque 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 Vasque

The surname Vasque originated in the Basque region of Spain and France, which spans the western Pyrenees mountains and adjacent plains. It is derived from the Basque word "bask," meaning "people of the forest." The earliest recorded spelling of the name is found in the 11th century Codex Callistinus, a collection of medieval manuscripts from the Benedictine abbey of Albelda in northern Spain.

In the 12th century, the name appears in the Cartulario de San Millán de la Cogolla, a cartulary from the Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla in La Rioja, Spain. This document lists several individuals with the surname Vasque, including Sancho Vasque and Pedro Vasque. The name is also found in the Libro de la Regla, a 13th-century work on Basque customary law, indicating its widespread use in the region at that time.

During the 14th century, the surname Vasque began to spread beyond the Basque Country as a result of migration and trade. In 1327, a merchant named Juan Vasque is recorded in the archives of the city of Barcelona. Around the same time, the name appears in the archives of the Kingdom of Navarre, with references to individuals such as García Vasque and María Vasque.

One of the earliest notable figures with the surname Vasque was Martín Vasque de Arce (1475-1547), a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico alongside Hernán Cortés. Another prominent individual was Diego Vasque de Quiroga (1520-1604), a Spanish jurist and the second bishop of Michoacán, who advocated for the rights of indigenous peoples in New Spain.

In the 17th century, the surname Vasque is found in various historical records from Spain and its colonies. For example, Pedro Vasque de Velasco (1597-1667) was a Spanish nobleman and governor of the Captaincy General of Chile. In the 18th century, Juan Vasque de Molina (1715-1783) was a Spanish-Chilean lawyer and historian who wrote one of the earliest accounts of the Mapuche people.

Other notable individuals with the surname Vasque include Mariano Vasque de Quiroga (1788-1838), a Mexican military officer and politician who served as the 16th president of Mexico, and Martín Vasque de Acuña (1793-1854), a Mexican painter and one of the pioneers of the Mexican Academy of San Carlos.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Vasque

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

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

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

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