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

Zabaleta, 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 Zabaleta surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zabaleta in America

Zabaleta is the 43969th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zabaleta surname appeared 490 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 Zabaleta.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zabaleta 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 Zabaleta

The surname Zabaleta has its origins in the Basque region of Spain, specifically within the provinces of Guipuzkoa and Navarra. The Basque Country, a region straddling the border between modern-day Spain and France, is known for its unique language, Euskara, which has no known relation to any other language in the world. The surname itself can be traced back to at least the Late Middle Ages, around the 14th and 15th centuries.

The name Zabaleta is derived from the Basque word roots "zabal" meaning "wide" or "broad," and the suffix "-eta" which is a locative suffix indicating "place of." Therefore, Zabaleta translates roughly to "the wide place" or "the broad area." This indicates that the original bearers of the name likely lived in or were associated with a particularly expansive piece of land or a spacious valley, typical of the fertile and rolling landscapes of the Basque region.

Early records of the surname appear in various forms due to the variations in spelling before the standardization of language. Some of the early mentions of the surname can be found in church records, property documents, and various legal manuscripts of the time. For example, a record from the late 15th century mentions a Juan de Zabaleta, who was a landowner in the region of Guipuzkoa, lending evidence to its historical usage.

One of the earliest known prominent figures with the surname is Juan de Zabaleta, a Spanish philosopher and writer born around 1610 and died in 1670. He was a member of the intellectual circles of Madrid and is well known for his essays and moral discourses, contributing significantly to Spanish literature of the 17th century.

Another historical figure is General José de Zabaleta, born in the late 18th century, specifically in 1763, and died in 1834. He served in the Spanish army during the Napoleonic Wars and was noted for his leadership during the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France's occupation of Spain.

In the 19th century, Martín Zabaleta emerged as a key figure in the Basque cultural revival, born in 1847 and passing away in 1912. He was an influential poet and writer who contributed to the preservation and celebration of Basque language and traditions.

A significant figure in the music world is Pablo Zabaleta, not to be confused with the contemporary footballer of the same name. This Pablo Zabaleta, born in 1884 and died in 1954, was a composer known for his works that blended traditional Basque melodies with classical music structures, thereby promoting Basque heritage in a time of great cultural change.

In the sphere of athletics, we see the early 20th-century pelotari (Basque ball player), Patxi Zabaleta, born in 1901 and died in 1975. He gained fame in Basque sports, especially in the games of pelota that were and still are culturally significant in the Basque region.

The surname Zabaleta serves as a fascinating example of how geographical features can influence surnames, and its bearers have left a mark on various fields such as literature, military history, cultural preservation, music, and sports.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zabaleta

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

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

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

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