2000
#4,221
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 7,769
First available Census row
Per 100,000 2.88
Uncommon Last name
Guardado
A Spanish surname derived from the past participle of "guardar," meaning "to keep, guard, or protect."
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 15,309 Americans carry the last name Guardado. That puts it at #2,639 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 4.47 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 22,389 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Guardado surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
15K
1 in 22,389
Census rank
#2,639
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
4.5
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
13K
uncommon in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 13,350 bearers of the surname Guardado in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 4.47 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 2639th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Guardado, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (3.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Guardado
The surname Guardado is of Spanish origin, derived from the verb "guardar," which means "to guard" or "to keep." It likely originated in the regions of Spain where the Castilian language was spoken, such as Andalusia, Castile, and Leon, during the medieval period.
The name Guardado may have been initially given as a descriptive surname to individuals who worked as guards or watchmen, or to those who lived near a guarded area or fortification. It could also have been bestowed upon someone known for their protective or cautious nature.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Guardado can be found in a 14th-century document from the city of Seville, where a certain Pedro Guardado was mentioned as a landowner. Another early reference comes from a 15th-century genealogical record in Murcia, which listed a family with the surname Guardado.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, as Spain expanded its empire across the Americas, many individuals with the surname Guardado migrated to the New World. Notable bearers of the name from this period include Diego Guardado, a Spanish conquistador who participated in the conquest of Mexico in the 1520s, and Alonso Guardado, a Jesuit missionary who traveled to New Spain (present-day Mexico) in the 1570s.
In the 18th century, a prominent figure was Juan Guardado, a Spanish military officer who served in the War of the Spanish Succession and later became the governor of Panama in 1732. Another notable individual was María Guardado, a renowned poet and writer from Guatemala, who lived in the late 18th century.
The 19th century saw several Guardados make their mark in various fields. José Guardado was a Chilean politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 1860s. Miguel Guardado was a Mexican architect known for his work on numerous churches and government buildings in the 1870s and 1880s.
As the name Guardado spread across the Spanish-speaking world, it underwent variations in spelling and pronunciation. In some regions, it was written as Guardadu or Guordado, while in others, it was pronounced with a more guttural "r" sound.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Guardado
Among Census respondents with the surname Guardado, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (3.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%).
The bar chart below shows how Guardado bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Guardado surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.9% · 12,798
- White3.3% · 439
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 36
- Black or African American0.2% · 33
- Two or more races0.2% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 12
Timeline
Historical Census data for Guardado
Guardado appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#2,848
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 12,656
+4,887 bearers (+62.9%)
Per 100,000 4.29
Rank movement Up 1,373 places
2020
#2,639
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 13,350
+694 bearers (+5.5%)
Per 100,000 4.47
Rank movement Up 209 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #4,221 | 7,769 | 2.88 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #2,848 | 12,656 | 4.29 | +4,887 bearers (+62.9%) | Up 1,373 places |
| 2020 | #2,639 | 13,350 | 4.47 | +694 bearers (+5.5%) | Up 209 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Guardado surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #2,848 | #2,639 | 7.3% |
| Count | 12,656 | 13,350 | 5.5% |
| Per 100K | 4.29 | 4.47 | 4.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Guardado bearers went from 12,656 to 13,350 (+5.5% change). The surname moved up 209 positions in the national ranking, going from #2,848 to #2,639.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Guardado
FAQ
Guardado surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Guardado?
Name Census estimates that about 15,309 living Americans carry the surname Guardado. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 22,389 residents.
How common is Guardado?
Guardado ranks #2,639 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Uncommon." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 4.47 per 100,000 residents, which is about 4 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 13,350 people with the surname Guardado. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (15,309), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 4.47 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 4.47 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 4 of them to have the surname Guardado.
Has Guardado become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Guardado went from 12,656 recorded bearers to 13,350. That is an increase of 694 (+5.5%). In the national ranking it rose from #2,848 to #2,639.
What does the Census say about the background of Guardado?
Among Census respondents with the surname Guardado, the largest self-reported group is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (3.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
Hispanic is the largest self-reported group for the surname Guardado in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (12,798 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Guardado appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are Hispanic (95.9%), White (3.3%), Asian/Pacific Islander (0.3%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Guardado (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Guardado mean?
A Spanish surname derived from the past participle of "guardar," meaning "to keep, guard, or protect." The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Guardado (4.47 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people have the last name Guardado?
Find out how common the surname Guardado is on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.