These are the most common Mexican last names beginning with N, ranked by how many people in Mexico have the name today.
Only two names in this list are in the top one hundred in Mexico: Nava and Navarro. I give their meanings later.
Netzahualcoyotl is perhaps the most interesting name, even though it is only just within the top three thousand names. As I’ll explain, it dates back to pre-conquest Mexico.
These rankings come from a database of over 1.25 million workers published by Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education.
List Of Mexican Last Names Starting With N
Let’s start with the alphabetical list of names from Naal to Napoles.
Najera is the most common name in this section. The Spanish origins are in the town of Najera in La Rioja in Spain.
The earlier origins are Arabic. The Arabic word naxara translates as “the place between the rocks”.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Naal | 1,093 | 146,201 |
| Nabor | 2,232 | 31,068 |
| Nafarrate | 3,357 | 134,712 |
| Nafate | 2,232 | |
| Nahuat | 1,752 | |
| Najar | 2,095 | 9,821 |
| Najera | 196 | 1,971 |
| Nambo | 3,059 | 22,689 |
| Nango | 2,793 | |
| Napoles | 1,279 | 11,335 |
Mexican Names From Naranjo to Nazario
I mentioned two of these names in the introduction as ranking in the top 100: Nava and Navarro.
Nava, like Najera, is also a toponymic name, which means that it describes a place and was adopted as a placename. The Spanish word nava translates as a plain treeless valley.
Early bearers of the name likely lived in towns situated in valleys.
Navarro is a habitational name, in the it refers to a place. Navarre was an important historic kingdom in northern Spain.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Naranjo | 544 | 2,328 |
| Nares | 3,357 | 42,579 |
| Narro | 2,725 | 37,229 |
| Narvaez | 437 | 3,373 |
| Nataren | 1,462 | 46,902 |
| Natividad | 2,314 | 7,885 |
| Nava | 69 | 874 |
| Navarrete | 168 | 1,471 |
| Navarro | 88 | 315 |
| Navez | 2,409 | 126,765 |
| Navidad | 2,502 | 37,229 |
| Nazario | 1,504 | 5,258 |
Mexican Names From Nebuay to Neyoy
Negrete is the most common name in this section. The meaning comes from the Spanish word for dark or black. It was likely given to people with dark hair or complexion.
Netzahualcoyotl is an indigenous Nahuatl name. It was the name of one of the most noteworthy leaders in pre-conquest Mexico. The early Netzahualcoyotl lived from 1402 to 1472 and was a legendary poet-king.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Nebuay | 2,062 | |
| Negrete | 423 | 2,384 |
| Negron | 2,409 | 1,963 |
| Neira | 2,997 | 14,139 |
| Neri | 396 | 4,394 |
| Neria | 1,616 | 24,874 |
| Netro | 3,250 | 51,610 |
| Netzahualcoyotl | 2,997 | |
| Nevarez | 789 | 2,188 |
| Neyoy | 2,409 |
Mexican Names From Nicanor to Niño
Nieto is the most common name in this section. This is a Spanish name, and its the word for a grandson. Early bearers were likely the grandchild of a noteworthy person.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Nicanor | 2,314 | 40,494 |
| Nicasio | 2,665 | 21,940 |
| Nicio | 2,793 | |
| Niebla | 2,409 | 28,065 |
| Nieblas | 1,185 | 22,026 |
| Nieto | 220 | 1,376 |
| Nieva | 2,725 | 36,900 |
| Nieves | 571 | 1,004 |
| Nigenda | 2,725 | |
| Nila | 2,458 | 31,824 |
| Niño | 777 | 3,224 |
Mexican Names From Nochebuena to Noyola
Noriega is the most common name in this section. There are several places with this name in northern Spain.
But Nochebuena is perhaps the most interesting name here. It literally means “Christmas Eve” in Spanish. The name was given to children abandoned at churches on that day i.e. foundlings.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Nochebuena | 1,203 | 110,286 |
| Nogales | 2,793 | 25,935 |
| Nogueda | 1,646 | 50,771 |
| Noguera | 2,197 | 13,551 |
| Nogueron | 2,793 | |
| Noguez | 1,290 | 27,818 |
| Nolasco | 396 | 3,102 |
| Noria | 2,725 | 48,347 |
| Noriega | 368 | 2,477 |
| Norzagaray | 3,059 | 49,824 |
| Notario | 2,062 | 61,585 |
| Novas | 2,553 | 52,482 |
| Novelo | 487 | 28,777 |
| Noveron | 2,997 | 122,314 |
| Novoa | 2,062 | 7,756 |
| Noya | 2,997 | 44,270 |
| Noyola | 989 | 7,759 |
Mexican Names From Nochebuena to Noyola
There are few Mexican names starting with “Nu”. But Nuñez is in the top two hundred names in the country. This Spanish name literally means “Son of Nuño”.
The origins are Latin. Some scholars point to the Latin word nonus, which means ninth. Others point to nonnus, which refers to a monk or a tutor.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Nucamendi | 1,006 | 131,379 |
| Nuncio | 2,612 | 23,432 |
| Nunez | 315 | 242 |
| Nuñez | 143 | 242 |
| Nungaray | 3,163 | 21,648 |
| Nuño | 1,832 | 5,348 |
| Nuricumbo | 2,665 |
Notes About The List
The data comes from an open database of 1,256,438 federal education workers published by Mexico’s Secretaría de Educación Pública. The processed data is published on GitHub as mexican-names.
The Mexico Rank column shows how common the surname is in Mexico. The lower the number, the more common the name. The U.S. Rank column is the name’s position in the 2010 United States census.
People in Mexico carry two surnames, the father’s followed by the mother’s. Our ranking uses the father’s surname, which is the one a person is normally known by.
Related lists
For surnames common among Hispanic Americans, see our list of Hispanic last names starting with N.
You can also use our surname ranking tool to check how a name ranked in the 2000 and 2010 U.S. censuses.
