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The surnameLópez

A Spanish patronymic surname, the 12th most common in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex L120

López: #12 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon López #12, 874,523 people López: #12 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez López #12, 874,523 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). López is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

Spanish origin

A patrilineal surname from Spanish.

López is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 992 Spanish surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 874,523 people named López in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 353 Americans. That is up 41% since 2000, when the Census counted 621,536.

#12
rank among US surnames
874,523
people in 2010
296
per 100,000 Americans
+40.7%
change since 2000 (was #21)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#3Williams1,625,252190
#4Brown1,437,026215
#5Jones1,425,470217
#6Garcia1,166,120265
#7Miller1,161,437266
#8Davis1,116,357277
#9Rodriguez1,094,924282

Who is named López

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

93% of people named López identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), 4.9% as white (not Hispanic) and 1.0% as Asian and Pacific Islander.

  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 93%
  • White (not Hispanic) 4.9%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 0.6%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.4%
  • Two or more races 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among Hispanic and Latino Americans.

Famous Lópezs

63 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Jennifer Lopez
    American singer and actress (born 1969)
  • Francisco Solano López
    2nd president of Paraguay (1826-1870)
  • Adolfo López Mateos
    55th President of Mexico, 1910–1969
  • Claudio López
    Argentine association football player, born 1974
  • Maxi López
    Argentine association football player, born 1984
  • George Lopez
    American comedian and actor, born 1961
  • Lisandro López
    Argentine footballer (born 1983)
  • Trini Lopez
    American singer and musician (1937–2020)
  • Alfonso López Michelsen
    32 President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978
  • Mario Lopez
    American actor, born 1973
  • José Manuel López
    Argentine association football player (born 2000)
  • Vicente López y Planes
    Argentine writer and politician (1785-1856)

Notable Lópezs come mostly from the United States (26), Argentina (23) and Mexico (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like López

López has the Soundex code L120, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L120.

Other Spanish surnames

Questions

Where does the surname López come from?
López is Spanish in origin.
How common is the surname López?
874,523 people in the United States had the surname López in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 353 Americans. It ranked 12th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname López?
In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named López identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), and 4.9% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named López?
Jennifer Lopez, American singer and actress (born 1969), followed by Francisco Solano López.