Explore the Family Name Estrela

The meaning of Estrela

1. Portuguese: from estrela ‘star’, a cognate of Spanish Estrella. 2. Catalan: altered form of Spanish Estrella.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, The surname Estrela has seen a significant increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The ranking of the surname moved up from 57,705 in 2000 to 47,966 in 2010, marking a positive change of 16.88 percent. Moreover, the count of individuals with the Estrela surname increased by 33.64 percent from 330 in 2000 to 441 in 2010. As a result, the proportion of this surname per 100k people also rose by 25 percent from 0.12 to 0.15 during this period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#57,705	#47,966	16.88%
Count	330	441	33.64%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.15	25%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Estrela

The Decennial U.S. Census data also reveals interesting shifts in the ethnic identity associated with the Estrela surname. Notably, the percentage of Whites with this surname saw an increase of 10.27 percent from 80.61 percent in 2000 to 88.89 percent in 2010. There was also a minor rise in the Hispanic representation within this surname group, with a 5.40 percent increase over the decade. However, there was a significant decline in those identifying as two or more races, decreasing by 81.27 percent from 12.12 percent in 2000 to just 2.27 percent in 2010. Additionally, the surname started being used by Black individuals, reaching 1.36 percent in 2010. On the other hand, there was no recorded change for Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native groups.

	2000	2010	Change
White	80.61%	88.89%	10.27%
Hispanic	6.67%	7.03%	5.4%
Two or More Races	12.12%	2.27%	-81.27%
Black	0%	1.36%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%