The Roa surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 6,221 people carried this name — #5,589 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 47,400 people counted. That is up 36% from 4,565 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Roa surname
(surname) From Spanish Roa.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Roa» (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 14,451 people named Roa 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 France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 69 people named Roa.
26 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 11 départements, most often Var.
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 Switzerland’s population statistics
47 people named Roa live in Switzerland.
They live in 6 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where 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 the Nordic population registers
25 people named Roa 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
Roa in American newspapers,
1916–1918.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 583,429 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Roa,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Joaquín Roa 1895–1981 · actor -
Humberto Roa 1912–1986 · association football player -
Jose Miguel Roa Godoy d. 1973
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Juan Roa Riquelme d. 1973
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Juan Roa Dávila 1552–1630 · jurist
-
Israel Roa 1909–2002 · painter
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Roa.
- Rizza 959 · U.S. census
- Rizzi 2,801 · U.S. census
- Rizzo 18,605 · U.S. census
- Rizzolo 649 · U.S. census
- Rizzotto 371 · U.S. census
- Rizzuto 2,316 · U.S. census
- Rob 537 · U.S. census
- Roba 221 · U.S. census
- Robach 188 · U.S. census
- Robak 954 · U.S. census
- Robart 544 · U.S. census
- Robba 112 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Roa 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.