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

Veira, 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 Veira surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Veira in America

Veira is the 58876th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Veira surname appeared 344 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 Veira.

We can also compare 2010 data for Veira 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 Veira

The surname VEIRA is believed to have originated in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain during the medieval period. It is thought to derive from the Latin word "varius," meaning "varied" or "diverse," possibly referring to someone with varied skills or talents, or someone who lived in a diverse area.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Tumbo Viejo, an ancient cartulary from the monastery of San Pedro de Ramiras in Galicia, dating back to the 11th century. The document mentions a certain "Petrus Veira" who was a landowner in the region.

In the 12th century, the Libro de las Behetrías, a medieval census of landowners and their holdings in the Kingdom of Castile, lists several individuals with the surname VEIRA, suggesting that the name had spread across northern Spain by that time.

A notable historical figure bearing this surname was Pedro Fernández de VEIRA, a 14th-century Galician nobleman and military leader who fought in the Reconquista against the Moors. He was born around 1320 and played a crucial role in the capture of the city of Algeciras in 1344.

In the 15th century, the name VEIRA appeared in various Portuguese records, indicating that it had crossed the border into neighboring Portugal. One example is João Rodrigues VEIRA, a merchant and explorer from Lisbon who was part of the first Portuguese expedition to reach India in 1498, led by Vasco da Gama.

During the 16th century, the surname VEIRA was present in various regions of Spain, including Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria. A notable figure from this period was Andrés de VEIRA, a Spanish military officer and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his conquest of Mexico in the 1520s.

As the Spanish Empire expanded across the Atlantic, the surname VEIRA was carried to the Americas by early settlers and conquistadors. One such individual was Diego de VEIRA, a Spanish colonist who established a settlement in present-day Colombia in the late 16th century.

Throughout the centuries, the VEIRA surname has also been associated with various places and locations, such as the town of Veira in the province of Ourense, Galicia, and the parish of Veira in the municipality of Arouca, Portugal.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Veira

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

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

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

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