Explore the Family Name Tenuta

The meaning of Tenuta

Italian: topographic name or a nickname from the Italian word tenuta ‘estate, land holding’ (from tenere ‘to hold’), denoting the owner of a large property or for someone who worked on one. Some characteristic forenames: Italian Aldo, Antonio, Emilio, Eugenio, Angelo, Annunziato, Caesar, Carmelo, Cesare, Dino, Domenico, Fedele, Fernando, Franco, Giampiero, Mariana, Mariano, Sergio.

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

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

The surname Tenuta, based on data from the Decennial U.S. Census, saw a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010, slipping from rank 38,395 to 38,948. Despite this dip in ranking, the actual count of individuals with the Tenuta surname increased by 4.43%, from 542 persons in 2000 to 566 persons in 2010. However, when considering the proportion of people named Tenuta per 100,000, there was a 5% decrease over the same period.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#38,395	#38,948	-1.44%
Count	542	566	4.43%
Proportion per 100k	0.2	0.19	-5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tenuta

Analyzing the ethnicity distribution of the surname Tenuta as per the Decennial U.S. Census data, we see that the majority of those carrying this name identify as White, although there was a slight decrease in this demographic from 98.15% in 2000 to 95.58% in 2010. The Hispanic representation among individuals with the surname Tenuta saw a significant increase, rising by 78.29% during this period. In 2010, a new ethnic identity appeared within the Tenuta population: Asian/Pacific Islander, representing 1.24%. There were no reported changes in individuals identifying as Two or more races, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native.

	2000	2010	Change
White	98.15%	95.58%	-2.62%
Hispanic	1.29%	2.3%	78.29%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.24%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%