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

Vicuña, 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 Vicuña surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Vicuña in America

Vicuña is the 22481st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Vicuña surname appeared 1,144 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 Vicuña.

We can also compare 2010 data for Vicuña 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 Vicuña

The surname Vicuna is believed to have originated in Spain during the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "vicuña," which refers to a wild camelid found in the Andes Mountains of South America. The name likely originated as a descriptive surname, given to someone who worked with or traded in the wool of the vicuña animal.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Vicuna can be found in the Repartimiento de Sevilla, a medieval census of Seville, Spain, from the 13th century. This document mentions a certain "Juan Vicuna" as a resident of the city.

In the 15th century, the surname appears in the records of the Spanish Inquisition, with a Rodrigo Vicuna being tried for heresy in 1492. This suggests that the name was already well-established in Spain by that time.

During the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 16th century, several individuals with the surname Vicuna accompanied the conquistadors and settled in the New World. One notable example is Pedro Vicuna, a soldier who participated in the conquest of Peru under Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

In the 17th century, the surname Vicuna can be found in various records from colonial Latin America. For instance, a Diego Vicuna is mentioned as a landowner in present-day Chile in the 1640s.

Notable individuals with the surname Vicuna throughout history include:

1. José Félix Vicuña (1775-1849), a Chilean statesman and politician who served as President of the Governing Junta of Chile in 1811.
2. Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1831-1886), a Chilean writer, historian, and politician.
3. Manuel Vicuña (1778-1843), a Chilean military officer and politician who served as President of the Governing Junta of Chile in 1811.
4. Claudio Vicuña (1911-1964), a Chilean writer and poet.
5. Vicuna, a 16th-century Indigenous leader in present-day Peru who led a rebellion against the Spanish conquistadors.

While the surname Vicuna originated in Spain, it has since spread to various parts of the world, particularly Latin America, due to Spanish colonization and migration patterns.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Vicuña

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

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!