Explore the Family Name Ricotta

The meaning of Ricotta

Italian (southern): from ricotta, the name of a soft cheese, used for someone who made or sold cheese or as a nickname for a man who was dominated by his womenfolk or thought to be ‘soft in the head’. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Salvatore, Sal, Santo, Albertina, Gesualdo, Giuseppe, Pasquale.

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

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

According to the data provided by the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Ricotta ranked at 26,239 in popularity in 2000 and fell slightly to 27,604 in 2010, a decrease of 5.2%. The total count of individuals with this surname also decreased marginally from 876 in 2000 to 872 in 2010, marking a change of -0.46%. The proportion per 100,000 people dropped by 6.25% from 0.32 to 0.3 over the same decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#26,239	#27,604	-5.2%
Count	876	872	-0.46%
Proportion per 100k	0.32	0.3	-6.25%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ricotta

In terms of ethnicity, again based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, those identifying as White made up the vast majority of individuals with the Ricotta surname in both 2000 and 2010, however, their proportion did drop by 2.11%, from 98.06% to 95.99%. There was a significant increase in the percentage of Ricottas who identified as Hispanic, with the figure doubling from 1.26% in 2000 to 2.52% in 2010. Meanwhile, those identifying with two or more races saw a minor increase of 1.47%, totalling 0.69% in 2010. The number of Asians/Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and American Indians and Alaskan Natives identified as having the Ricotta surname was either zero or suppressed (S) for privacy reasons in both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.06%	95.99%	-2.11%
Hispanic	1.26%	2.52%	100%
Two or More Races	0.68%	0.69%	1.47%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.57%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%