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

Villarreal, 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 Villarreal surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Villarreal in America

Villarreal is the 3693rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Villarreal surname appeared 9,614 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Villarreal.

We can also compare 2010 data for Villarreal 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 Villarreal

The surname Villareal has its origins in Spain and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is believed to have derived from the Spanish words "villa" meaning town or village, and "real" meaning royal or pertaining to the king. This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who lived in a royal town or village, or perhaps worked in service to the crown.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Villareal can be found in the Becerro de las Behetrías de Castilla, a census-like document from the 14th century that recorded landowners and their properties in the region of Castile. This text mentions a certain Juan Villareal who owned land in the town of Villareal de Álava.

In the 15th century, there are records of a nobleman named Pedro de Villareal who served as a military commander under King Ferdinand II of Aragon during the Reconquista. He played a key role in the conquest of Granada in 1492, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain.

During the 16th century, the name Villareal appears in various historical documents and manuscripts from Spain, including the works of the famous playwright Lope de Vega, who mentioned a character named Doña María de Villareal in one of his plays.

One notable bearer of the surname was the Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernando de Villareal, who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to conquer Mexico in the early 16th century. He is said to have played a crucial role in the conquest of Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

In the 17th century, a man named Francisco de Villareal y Córdoba was a prominent figure in the Spanish colonial administration in the Americas. He served as the governor of Panama and later as the viceroy of Peru from 1655 to 1661.

As the Spanish Empire expanded, the surname Villareal spread to various parts of the Americas, where it has remained a prominent name to this day, particularly in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Villarreal

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

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

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

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