Explore the Family Name Caruana

The meaning of Caruana

Italian (Sicily): topographic name from caruana ‘castor oil plant’. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Angelo, Carlo, Carmel, Amante, Antonietta, Carmelo, Libia, Reno, Sal, Salvatore, Santo.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Caruana in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Caruana has seen a slight increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname moved from 20,800 in 2000 to 20,601 in 2010, reflecting a change of about 0.96%. The count also rose from 1,180 in 2000 to 1,286 in 2010, an 8.98% growth in that decade. However, the proportion per 100k people remained constant over this period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#20,800	#20,601	0.96%
Count	1,180	1,286	8.98%
Proportion per 100k	0.44	0.44	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Caruana

The Decennial U.S. Census also provides insight into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Caruana. In 2000, the majority of those with this surname identified as White (95.59%), with a small percentage identifying as Hispanic (2.54%) or Asian/Pacific Islander (0.68%). By 2010, there was a slight shift in these percentages. While the majority still identified as White (93.93%), the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic increased to 4.04% and the Asian/Pacific Islander category saw a rise to 0.93%. Interestingly, in 2010, there were also individuals with the surname Caruana who identified as Black, though this group represented less than half a percent of the total. The data for those identifying as two or more races was suppressed for privacy.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.59%	93.93%	-1.74%
Hispanic	2.54%	4.04%	59.06%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.68%	0.93%	36.76%
Black	0%	0.47%	0%
Two or More Races	1.02%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%