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

Zavada, 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 Zavada surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zavada in America

Zavada is the 44109th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zavada surname appeared 488 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 Zavada.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zavada 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 Zavada

The surname Zavada, originating from Slavic regions of Eastern Europe, particularly present-day Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic, can be traced back to around the late Middle Ages. Derived from the old Slavic word zavada, meaning "obstacle" or "hindrance," the name likely described someone living near a notable geographical feature like a gorge or a narrow pass that posed a challenge to travel.

In Poland, the surname appears in historical records as early as the 14th century. Manuscripts from this period indicate variations like Zawada, which is closely related and similarly derived from local topographical terms. By the Renaissance, forms of the surname appeared more frequently in church records and legal documents, suggesting that the name had become recognized and stable.

One of the earliest notable references to the surname Zavada can be found in a 1432 document listing landholders in the vicinity of Kraków, Poland. Here, a Jan Zavada is recorded as owning a small plot of farmland, illustrating the link between the name and the geography of the area.

In the 17th century, the surname appears in military records. An example is Wojciech Zavada, a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soldier who fought in the Khmelnytsky Uprising. His service, recorded between 1648-1654, shows the geographical spread and prominence of the surname within the military context.

Ivan Zavadsky, born in 1822 in what is now western Ukraine, is another historical figure bearing a variation of the name. An influential local politician by the mid-19th century, he played a vital role in regional administrative reforms during the later years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, highlighting the civic engagement of individuals with this surname.

In the Czech Republic, the surname gained cultural significance with the emergence of Antonín Závada, a notable 19th-century poet born in 1848. His works, which explored themes of nature and national identity, contributed significantly to Czech literature of the period.

By the early 20th century, Josef Zavada, born in 1895, had become a recognized name in Polish academia, particularly in the field of Slavic languages and literature. His extensive research on etymology and philology remains influential, underlining the scholarly contributions associated with the surname.

Throughout history, the surname Zavada has been carried by individuals who made notable contributions to their respective fields, be it in landholding, military service, politics, literature, or academia. The name’s etymological roots and historical evolution reflect the linguistic and cultural richness of the regions it originates from.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zavada

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

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

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

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