The Sousa surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 15,377 people carried this name — #2,370 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 19,200 people counted. That is up 8% from 14,183 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Sousa surname
Borrowed from Portuguese Sousa, from Old Galician-Portuguese Sousa.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Sousa» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
2,625 people named Sousa live in Switzerland.
They live in all 26 of Switzerland’s cantons, most of all in Vaud.
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 Argentina’s national register
At least 1,031 people named Sousa 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 232 people named Sousa.
Most of them — 162 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 32 départements, most often Puy-de-Dôme.
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 print
Sousa in American newspapers,
1902–1923.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 80,348 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Sousa,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Álvaro Dias de Sousa 1330– -
Diogo de Sousa 1461–1532 · Catholic priest -
Manuel de Sousa 1470–1549 · Latin Catholic priest -
Martim Afonso de Sousa 1500–1564 · politician -
Tomé de Sousa 1503–1579 · military personnel
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 216 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Sousa.
When the index is not enough
This page says where Sousa 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.