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

Zabala, 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 Zabala surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zabala in America

Zabala is the 7637th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zabala surname appeared 4,348 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Zabala.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zabala 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 Zabala

The surname Zabala is of Basque origin, originating from the Basque Country, a region straddling the western Pyrenees in northern Spain and southwestern France. The earliest known records of the name date back to the 12th century.

Zabala is derived from the Basque words "zabala" meaning "wide" or "broad," and likely referred to a person who lived near a broad plain or valley. It may also have been a topographic name denoting someone who lived near a wide area or an open space.

In the 13th century, the name Zabala appeared in various documents and records from the Basque provinces of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. One of the earliest recorded instances was in a legal document from 1248, mentioning a landowner named Lope Zabala in the town of Azkoitia, Gipuzkoa.

The name Zabala was also found in several medieval Basque literary works, such as the Basque Book of Poetry, dating back to the 16th century. This suggests that the name was well-established among the Basque nobility and intellectual circles of the time.

Notable historical figures with the surname Zabala include:

1. Juan Antonio Zabala (1650-1711), a Spanish military engineer and architect who designed several fortifications and buildings in the Americas.
2. Miguel Antonio Zabala (1710-1781), a Spanish colonial administrator who served as the governor of Buenos Aires from 1776 to 1780.
3. Juan de Zabala (1568-1636), a Spanish Basque navigator and explorer who participated in expeditions to the Pacific Northwest in the early 17th century.
4. Francisco Zabala (1711-1787), a Spanish Franciscan friar and missionary who established several missions in California during the Spanish colonization.
5. Martín de Zabala (1537-1599), a Spanish Basque soldier and military commander who served in the Spanish Army of Flanders during the Eighty Years' War.

The surname Zabala has also been associated with various place names in the Basque Country, such as Zabala (a town in Bizkaia), and Zabalain (a neighborhood in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa). These place names likely derived from the same Basque root as the surname, further reflecting the name's deep ties to the region.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zabala

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

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

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

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