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    The surname Sousa

    A Portuguese surname, carried by 15,377 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex S200

    Sousa: #2,370 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Sousa #2,370, 15,377 people Sousa: #2,370 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Sousa #2,370, 15,377 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Sousa is more common than 98.5% of them.

    Origin

    Portuguese origin

    Borrowed from Portuguese Sousa, from Old Galician-Portuguese Sousa.

    One of 71 Portuguese surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 15,377 people named Sousa in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 20,078 Americans. That is up 8.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 14,183.

    #2,370
    rank among US surnames
    15,377
    people in 2010
    5.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +8.4%
    change since 2000 (was #2,339)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,361Tinsley15,44219,994
    #2,363Dawkins15,43120,008
    #2,364Sauer15,43020,009
    #2,365Elizondo15,41920,024
    #2,366Vann15,41620,028
    #2,367Wray15,40520,042
    #2,368Trinh15,39220,059

    Who is named Sousa

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

    89% of people named Sousa identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 89%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 6.7%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.6%
    • Two or more races 1.4%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Sousas

    12 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • John Philip Sousa
      American conductor and composer (1854–1932)
    • Everton Sousa Soares
      Brazilian association football player (born 1996)
    • Kathellen Sousa
      Brazilian association football player, born 1996
    • Mauricio de Sousa
      Brazilian cartoonist (born 1935)
    • Joelma Sousa
      Brazilian sprinter, born 1984
    • Mauro Sousa
      Brazilian association football player, born 1990
    • Aurélio Pinto de Sousa
      born 1974
    • Juarez Sousa da Silva
      Brazilian Roman Catholic archbishop, born 1961
    • Hulk
      Brazilian association football player, born 1986
    • Irmã Dulce Pontes
      Brazilian Catholic Franciscan Sister (1914-1992)
    • Mel Maia
      Brazilian child actress, born 2004
    • Matheus Pereira
      Brazilian association football player (born 1997)

    Notable Sousas come mostly from Brazil (11) and the United States (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Sousa

    Sousa has the Soundex code S200, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S200.

    Other Portuguese surnames

    All 71 Portuguese surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Sousa come from?
    Borrowed from Portuguese Sousa, from Old Galician-Portuguese Sousa.
    How common is the surname Sousa?
    15,377 people in the United States had the surname Sousa in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 20,078 Americans. It ranked 2,370th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Sousa?
    In the 2010 Census, 89% of people named Sousa identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Sousa?
    John Philip Sousa, American conductor and composer (1854–1932), followed by Everton Sousa Soares.
    Where is the surname Sousa most common?
    Wikidata records people named Sousa in Brazil and the United States.
    Is the surname Sousa getting more or less common?
    More common. 14,183 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 15,377 in 2010, up 8.4%.