Explore the Family Name Proia

The meaning of Proia

Italian (southern): habitational name from a minor place in Calabria called Proia, or an altered form of Greek Proias, a derivative of prōia ‘morning’. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Rocco, Angelo, Antonio, Attilio, Amerigo, Cataldo, Guido, Livio, Vito.

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

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

The Proia surname saw a rise in popularity between the years 2000 to 2010 according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, it was ranked 39,824th and by 2010, it had risen to 36,970th, a change of 7.17%. The actual count of people carrying the surname Proia increased from 519 in 2000 to 604 in 2010, showing an increase of 16.38%. In terms of proportion per 100,000 people, there was a slight increase from 0.19 to 0.2, a change of 5.26%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#39,824	#36,970	7.17%
Count	519	604	16.38%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.2	5.26%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Proia

On the aspect of ethnic identity, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the majority of individuals with the Proia surname identified as White, accounting for 96.72% in 2000 and slightly decreasing to 96.19% in 2010. There were no Proias who identified as Black or Asian/Pacific Islander in 2000, but there was a slight emergence of Asian/Pacific Islander identity amongst the Proias in 2010 at 0.83%. The percentage of those identifying as having two or more races dropped from 1.54% in 2000 to zero in 2010. Proias identifying as Hispanic saw an increase from 1.54% in 2000 to 1.82% in 2010. There were no changes within the American Indian and Alaskan Native category across both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.72%	96.19%	-0.55%
Hispanic	1.54%	1.82%	18.18%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.83%	0%
Two or More Races	1.54%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%