The Most Common Spanish SurnalDes in the United States: Some New Data Sources

Abstract

Data from two sources not available until recently, the National Death Index and the Medicare enrollment files, reveal patterns in the distribution of Spanish surnames in the U.S. not observed by previous investigators. The Medicare data Permit ranking of surnames for specific geographic areas, showing, in the case of Spanish surnames, that the frequency distribution in the U.S. reflects the distribution among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans.