2000
#7,157
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 4,302
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.59
Rare Last name
Viramontes
A habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "green mountains" in Spanish.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 6,044 Americans carry the last name Viramontes. That puts it at #6,223 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 1.76 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 56,710 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Viramontes surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
6.0K
1 in 56,710
Census rank
#6,223
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
1.8
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
5.3K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 5,271 bearers of the surname Viramontes in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 1.76 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 6223rd position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Viramontes, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 94.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Viramontes
The surname Viramontes is of Spanish origin and can be traced back to the regions of Castile and Aragon in Spain during the medieval period. The name likely derives from the Spanish words "virar," meaning to turn or veer, and "montes," meaning mountains or hills. This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who lived near or worked on a winding mountain path or road.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Viramontes appears in the Becerro de las Behetrías, a medieval census document from the 14th century that listed landowners and their properties in the regions of Castile and León. The name is also found in various historical documents from the 15th and 16th centuries, such as land records and municipal archives in towns across northern Spain.
The earliest known bearer of the surname Viramontes was Rodrigo Viramontes, a nobleman and military leader who fought in the Reconquista campaigns against the Moors in the 13th century. Another notable figure was Pedro Viramontes, a renowned architect and stonemason who worked on several churches and cathedrals in Castile during the late 15th century.
As the Spanish Empire expanded across the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Viramontes surname spread to various regions in the New World. One prominent individual was Juan de Viramontes, a conquistador and explorer who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expeditions to Mexico in the early 1500s. In the 18th century, Ignacio Viramontes was a respected cartographer and mapmaker who created detailed maps of various territories in New Spain (present-day Mexico and Central America).
In the realm of literature, María Viramontes (born 1954) is a notable contemporary Chicana writer and author of works such as "Under the Feet of Jesus" and "Their Dogs Came with Them." Her novels and short stories explore themes of immigration, identity, and the experiences of Mexican-American communities.
Overall, the surname Viramontes has a long and rich history, with its origins rooted in the mountains and landscapes of medieval Spain and a subsequent journey that paralleled the expansion of the Spanish Empire across the Americas.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Viramontes
Among Census respondents with the surname Viramontes, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 94.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Viramontes bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Viramontes surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino94.5% · 4,979
- White4.8% · 253
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 14
- Two or more races0.2% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 9
- Black or African American0.1% · 6
Timeline
Historical Census data for Viramontes
Viramontes appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#6,172
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,544
+1,242 bearers (+28.9%)
Per 100,000 1.88
Rank movement Up 985 places
2020
#6,223
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 5,271
-273 bearers (-4.9%)
Per 100,000 1.76
Rank movement Down 51 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #7,157 | 4,302 | 1.59 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #6,172 | 5,544 | 1.88 | +1,242 bearers (+28.9%) | Up 985 places |
| 2020 | #6,223 | 5,271 | 1.76 | -273 bearers (-4.9%) | Down 51 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Viramontes surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #6,172 | #6,223 | -0.8% |
| Count | 5,544 | 5,271 | -4.9% |
| Per 100K | 1.88 | 1.76 | -6.2% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Viramontes bearers went from 5,544 to 5,271 (-4.9% change). The surname moved down 51 positions in the national ranking, going from #6,172 to #6,223.
FAQ
Viramontes surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Viramontes?
Name Census estimates that about 6,044 living Americans carry the surname Viramontes. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 56,710 residents.
How common is Viramontes?
Viramontes ranks #6,223 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 1.76 per 100,000 residents, which is about 2 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 5,271 people with the surname Viramontes. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (6,044), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 1.76 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 1.76 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 2 of them to have the surname Viramontes.
Has Viramontes become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Viramontes went from 5,544 recorded bearers to 5,271. That is a decrease of 273 (-4.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #6,172 to #6,223.
What does the Census say about the background of Viramontes?
Among Census respondents with the surname Viramontes, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 94.5%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Hispanic is the largest self-reported group for the surname Viramontes in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.5% (4,979 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Viramontes appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Hispanic (94.5%), White (4.8%), Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Viramontes (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Viramontes mean?
A habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "green mountains" in Spanish. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Viramontes (1.76 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people share the surname Viramontes?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.