Explore the Family Name Gonyea

The meaning of Gonyea

American French: variant of Gonyer and Gonya, found predominantly in New England. History: Bearers of the surname Gonyea are descendants of one or another of the brothers Louis and Pierre Gasnier from France (see Gagne).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Gonyea has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the Gonyea name was ranked 14,646th most popular in the United States, but by 2010 it had dropped to 15,734th, representing a change of -7.43%. The actual count of individuals carrying the Gonyea surname also experienced a minor decline of -0.48%, totaling 1,853 individuals in 2010 compared to 1,862 in 2000. Accordingly, the proportion of the U.S. population with this surname per 100k people decreased by -8.7% over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#14,646	#15,734	-7.43%
Count	1,862	1,853	-0.48%
Proportion per 100k	0.69	0.63	-8.7%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gonyea

Regarding ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reports shifts among those with the Gonyea surname between 2000 and 2010. The largest ethnicity group, White, decreased slightly from 95.06% to 93.25%. The Hispanic percentage saw a significant increase of 66.49%, rising to 3.13% of all Gonyeas. Additionally, those identifying with two or more races increased notably, moving from 0.97% to 1.78%. On the other hand, the percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian and Alaskan Native identities declined, with changes of -14.02%, -11.63%, and -8.47% respectively.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.06%	93.25%	-1.9%
Hispanic	1.88%	3.13%	66.49%
Two or More Races	0.97%	1.78%	83.51%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.07%	0.92%	-14.02%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.59%	0.54%	-8.47%
Black	0.43%	0.38%	-11.63%