Explore the Family Name Graca

The meaning of Graca

Portuguese (Graça): from a short form of the Christian religious epithet da Graça, meaning ‘of mercy’ and forming part of the Marian name Maria da Graça, from graça ‘grace, mercy’. Some characteristic forenames: Portuguese Joao. Spanish Adriano, Ana, Carlos, Jose, Manuel, Mario, Amancio, Julio, Pedro, Teo. Dutch Helder.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Graca has seen a slight increase from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it was ranked as the 37,986th most common surname, with a count of 549 individuals bearing this name. By 2010, the rank moved up to 35,721, marking an improvement by approximately 6 percent. The count also increased to 629, indicating a growth rate of 14.57 percent. The proportion of people named Graca per 100,000 also went up by 5 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#37,986	#35,721	5.96%
Count	549	629	14.57%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.21	5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Graca

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Graca identify as White, with the percentage increasing from 81.60 in 2000 to 88.71 in 2010. A small percentage identified as Black, which saw a slight increase from 3.10 to 3.50 in the same time period. Similarly, the percentage of people identifying as Hispanic saw a decrease from 6.38 to 5.72. Those identifying as belonging to two or more races significantly dropped from 8.74 to 1.27. No individuals with the Graca surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either 2000 or 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	81.6%	88.71%	8.71%
Hispanic	6.38%	5.72%	-10.34%
Black	3.1%	3.5%	12.9%
Two or More Races	8.74%	1.27%	-85.47%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%