Explore the Family Name Pita

The meaning of Pita

Spanish and Portuguese: 1. nickname from pita ‘chicken’. 2. from the plant name pita ‘pita, American aloe’, presumably a topographic name. Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Jose, Carlos, Julio, Manuel, Armando, Eduardo, Enrique, Francisco, Ana, Jorge, Mario, Rafael.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Pita has witnessed a surge in popularity from 2000 to 2010. Ranking 17,153rd in 2000, it climbed to 13,148th place in 2010, experiencing a growth of 23.35 percent. The count of people bearing the Pita surname also increased significantly during this period, with a jump of 52.66 percent from 1,525 individuals in 2000 to 2,328 in 2010. Consequently, the proportion of people named Pita per 100,000 also saw an increase of 38.6 percent.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,153	#13,148	23.35%
Count	1,525	2,328	52.66%
Proportion per 100k	0.57	0.79	38.6%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Pita

Regarding ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals holding the Pita surname identify as Hispanic, with a slight increase from 69.84 percent in 2000 to 71.35 percent in 2010. Individuals identifying as White remained relatively stable at around 17 percent. The proportion of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander decreased by 12.06 percent, while Black identity saw a minor increase of 3.53 percent. Interestingly, the 2010 Census recorded individuals with the Pita surname who identified as belonging to two or more races, a category not registered in the previous 2000 census. No participants identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in both censuses.

	2000	2010	Change
Hispanic	69.84%	71.35%	2.16%
White	17.77%	17.57%	-1.13%
Asian/Pacific Islander	8.79%	7.73%	-12.06%
Black	1.7%	1.76%	3.53%
Two or More Races	0%	1.59%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%