The Acosta surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 103,418 people carried this name — #302 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 2,850 people counted. That is up 35% from 76,477 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Acosta surname
A Spanish habitational surname from Catalan.
Borrowed from Spanish Acosta, from Catalan Acosta.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Acosta» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 199,717 people named Acosta live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
325 people named Acosta live in Switzerland.
They live in 21 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 211 people named Acosta.
96 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 30 départements, most often Loire.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In the Nordic population registers
78 people named Acosta is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Acosta in American newspapers,
1879–1924.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 41,652 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Acosta,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Francisco de Acosta y Albear d. 1889 · military personnel -
Pedro de Acosta d. 1799 · painter -
Pedro Álvarez de Acosta 1484–1563 · Catholic bishop -
Pedro Álvarez de Acosta 1484–1563 · Catholic bishop
-
Cristóvão da Costa 1515–1594 · naturalist -
Juan Carlos Acosta d. 2020 · actor
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Acosta.
- Acher 105 · U.S. census
- Achille 719 · U.S. census
- Achilli 133 · U.S. census
- Achin 211 · U.S. census
- Acker 10,519 · U.S. census
- Ackermann 2,499 · U.S. census
- Acquaviva 837 · U.S. census
- Acquistapace 237 · U.S. census
- Actis 189 · U.S. census
- Ada 526 · U.S. census
- Adam 13,574 · U.S. census
- Adamczak 553 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Acosta is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.