Explore the Family Name Sanches

The meaning of Sanches

1. Portuguese: patronymic from the personal name Sancho. 2. Spanish: variant or altered form of Sánchez (see Sanchez). Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Jose, Carlos, Manuel, Juan, Jesus, Luis, Pedro, Adolfo, Alina, Arturo, Domingos, Guillermo. Portuguese Joao, Amadeu, Marcio.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Sanches saw a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. The rank of the surname moved from 4397 in 2000 to 4500 in 2010, representing a decline of 2.34%. However, the total count of individuals with this surname increased by 5.71% from 7457 to 7883 during the same period. Despite this increase, the proportion of the surname per 100,000 people decreased slightly by 3.26%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#4,397	#4,500	-2.34%
Count	7,457	7,883	5.71%
Proportion per 100k	2.76	2.67	-3.26%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sanches

The Census data also provides insight into the ethnicity of those carrying the Sanches surname. Most notably, there was a significant increase in those identifying as Black, with a change of 103.45% from 2000 to 2010. There was also a modest increase in those identifying as White and American Indian or Alaskan Native, with changes of 13.48% and 35.71% respectively. However, there were decreases among those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and those identifying with two or more races, with declines of 23.75% and 67.01% respectively. The majority of individuals with the Sanches surname identified as Hispanic, although this group saw a slight decrease of 1.25% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Hispanic	88.17%	87.07%	-1.25%
White	9.2%	10.44%	13.48%
Black	0.58%	1.18%	103.45%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.8%	0.61%	-23.75%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.28%	0.38%	35.71%
Two or More Races	0.97%	0.32%	-67.01%