The Tapia surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 52,651 people carried this name — #647 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 5,600 people counted. That is up 42% from 37,201 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Tapia surname
A topographic surname from Basque, denoting someone from Tapia de Casariego in Asturias.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Tapia» (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 43,440 people named Tapia 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 271 people named Tapia.
114 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 28 départements, most often Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere 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
216 people named Tapia live in Switzerland.
They live in 14 of Switzerland’s 26 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 the Nordic population registers
109 people named Tapia 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
Tapia in American newspapers,
1879–1962.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 15,072 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Tapia,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Carlo Tapia 1565–1644 · jurist -
Pedro de Tapia 1582–1657 · Catholic priest -
Alejandro Tapia y Rivera 1826–1881 · writer -
Emilio Tapia Rivas 1862–1918 · lawyer -
Luis de Tapia 1871–1937 · writer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 223 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Tapia.
- Tano 599 · U.S. census
- Tant 2,355 · U.S. census
- Tanton 882 · U.S. census
- Tanzi 552 · U.S. census
- Taormina 2,250 · U.S. census
- Tap 197 · U.S. census
- Tapie 107 · U.S. census
- Tarallo 630 · U.S. census
- Taran 470 · U.S. census
- Tarantini 105 · U.S. census
- Tarantino 4,158 · U.S. census
- Taranto 2,025 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Tapia 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.