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    The surname Zelaya

    A Spanish place surname, carried by 12,448 people in the United States.

    3 syllables Soundex Z400

    Zelaya: #2,886 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Zelaya #2,886, 12,448 people Zelaya: #2,886 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Zelaya #2,886, 12,448 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Zelaya is more common than 98.2% of them.

    Origin

    Spanish origin

    Borrowed from Spanish Zelaya, from Basque Zelaia, habitational surname from zelai (“field”).

    Zelaya is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    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 12,448 people named Zelaya in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 24,803 Americans. That is up 60% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,785.

    #2,886
    rank among US surnames
    12,448
    people in 2010
    4.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    +59.9%
    change since 2000 (was #4,219)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,877Shockley12,50424,692
    #2,878Chisholm12,50324,694
    #2,879Dong12,46624,767
    #2,880McCurdy12,46324,773
    #2,881Bertrand12,46124,777
    #2,882Spann12,45724,785
    #2,883Cooney12,45524,789

    Who is named Zelaya

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

    94% of people named Zelaya identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), 4.3% as white (not Hispanic) and 1.1% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 94%
    • White (not Hispanic) 4.3%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.1%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%
    • Two or more races 0.2%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

    Compare: most common surnames among Hispanic and Latino Americans.

    Famous Zelayas

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Emilio Zelaya
      Argentine footballer, born 1987

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Zelaya

    Zelaya has the Soundex code Z400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code Z400.

    Other Spanish surnames

    All 992 Spanish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Zelaya come from?
    Borrowed from Spanish Zelaya, from Basque Zelaia, habitational surname from zelai (“field”).
    How common is the surname Zelaya?
    12,448 people in the United States had the surname Zelaya in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 24,803 Americans. It ranked 2,886th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Zelaya?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Zelaya identified as Hispanic or Latino (any race), and 4.3% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Zelaya?
    Emilio Zelaya, Argentine footballer.
    Where is the surname Zelaya most common?
    Wikidata records people named Zelaya in Argentina.
    What type of surname is Zelaya?
    Zelaya is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Zelaya getting more or less common?
    More common. 7,785 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,448 in 2010, up 60%.