Explore the Family Name Cuenca

The meaning of Cuenca

Spanish: habitational name from Cuenca, a city in Castile, named from cuenca ‘basin, hollow’ (from Latin concha ‘shell’, ‘mussel’). Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Juan, Carlos, Jose, Alberto, Arturo, Benito, Blanca, Estanislao, Manuel, Miguel, Emilio, Enrique.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Cuenca has seen a significant increase from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Cuenca was ranked the 12,616th most common surname, while in 2010 it had jumped to 9,611th place—a change of around 23.82%. The count of individuals with the surname also increased by more than half (50.2%) over this period, with the number of people named Cuenca per 100,000 rising by 38.55% from 0.83 to 1.15.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#12,616	#9,611	23.82%
Count	2,251	3,381	50.2%
Proportion per 100k	0.83	1.15	38.55%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Cuenca

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Cuenca has also shifted slightly between 2000 and 2010, according to the same census data. The largest proportion of individuals with this surname identified as Hispanic, increasing from 75.52% in 2000 to 79.44% in 2010. Meanwhile, those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased from 16.53% to 14.29%, and those identifying as White dropped from 6.31% to 5.06%. The percentage of individuals identifying under two or more races also saw a decrease from 1.16% to 0.80%. No individuals with the surname were found to identify as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
Hispanic	75.52%	79.44%	5.19%
Asian/Pacific Islander	16.53%	14.29%	-13.55%
White	6.31%	5.06%	-19.81%
Two or More Races	1.16%	0.8%	-31.03%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%