Explore the Family Name Michelena

The meaning of Michelena

Basque: Castilianized form of Mitxelena, a topographic or habitational name referring to a house named with the personal name Mikel(e) (see Michael) + -ena ‘the house of’.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Michelena has seen a rise in its popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Michelena was ranked as the 58,553rd most common name, but by 2010, it had climbed to the rank of 53,419th, marking an 8.77% increase in rank. The number of individuals bearing the Michelena surname also increased from 324 in 2000 to 387 in 2010, a growth of 19.44%. Despite the increase, the proportion of people with the Michelena surname per 100,000 remained relatively steady, only increasing from 0.12 to 0.13.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#58,553	#53,419	8.77%
Count	324	387	19.44%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.13	8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Michelena

The ethnic identity tied to the surname Michelena also changed over this decade, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the proportion of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or belonging to two or more races declined, the percentage of individuals identifying as Hispanic saw a significant increase from 43.21% in 2000 to 58.14% in 2010. Meanwhile, the percentage of white individuals associated with the Michelena surname decreased by roughly 24%. There were no recorded instances of individuals with the Michelena surname identifying as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
Hispanic	43.21%	58.14%	34.55%
White	53.4%	40.57%	-24.03%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.85%	1.29%	-30.27%
Two or More Races	1.54%	0%	-100%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%