These are the most common Mexican last names beginning with Q, ranked by how many people in Mexico have the name today.
This is one of the smaller lists as there are relatively few Spanish words starting with Q. In contrast, the percentage of indigenous names is higher than usual. Several are clearly Maya or Nahuatl, I’ll point those out in each section.
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 Q
Let’s start with the alphabetical list of names from Queb to Quezadas.
Quezada is the most common name in this section. It has two other listed variants, Quezadas and Quesada. The origins are in the town of Quesada in Andalucía. Early bearers came from the town.
Queb, Queh, and Quej are Maya names, stemming from the Yucatec Maya word for a deer, keh.
Quechol is indigenous Nahuatl, the word refers to the spoonbill bird.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Queb | 3,357 | |
| Quebrado | 2,725 | 74,375 |
| Quechol | 4,311 | 113,155 |
| Quechulpa | 6,775 | |
| Queh | 6,099 | |
| Quej | 4,311 | |
| Quemada | 6,099 | 122,314 |
| Quero | 1,854 | 29,279 |
| Quesada | 2,665 | 4,509 |
| Quetz | 4,523 | |
| Quevedo | 527 | 4,404 |
| Quezada | 256 | 1,372 |
| Quezadas | 5,590 | 134,712 |
Mexican Names From Quiahua to Quiñonez
Quijano is the highest name in this section. There is a place of the same name in Cantabria in northern Spain.
Quiahua is an indigenous Nahuatl name, the meaning is related to rain. Here, rain is associated with water and fertility.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Quiahua | 2,922 | 81,772 |
| Quiane | 6,099 | |
| Quibrera | 5,158 | |
| Quijada | 1,210 | 6,856 |
| Quijano | 630 | 6,628 |
| Quijas | 2,095 | 20,871 |
| Quilantan | 2,861 | 57,516 |
| Quiles | 3,357 | 5,107 |
| Quime | 5,158 | |
| Quino | 4,802 | 45,804 |
| Quiñones | 710 | 1,014 |
| Quiñonez | 1,025 | 3,111 |
Mexican Names From Quintana to Quiroz
Two names in this section are in the top two hundred in Mexico, Quiroz and Quintero.
Quiroz is a habitational name i.e. early bearers came from a place of that name in northern Spain.
Quintero can be an occupational name. In parts of medieval Spain, tenant farmers paid a fifth of their harvest in rent, with quinto meaning a fifth.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Quintana | 326 | 923 |
| Quintanar | 964 | 13,727 |
| Quintanilla | 964 | 1,586 |
| Quintas | 2,793 | 49,636 |
| Quintero | 177 | 839 |
| Quinteros | 5,158 | 8,485 |
| Quintino | 4,523 | 45,412 |
| Quiralte | 4,311 | |
| Quirarte | 2,725 | 19,498 |
| Quirino | 1,424 | 19,242 |
| Quiroga | 1,057 | 5,824 |
| Quiros | 2,997 | 10,491 |
| Quiroz | 167 | 1,280 |
Mexican Names From Quistian to Quizaman
Quitl is a Nahuatl surname, with the meaning roughly translating to “it is said that“.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Quistian | 1,794 | 69,392 |
| Quistiano | 6,775 | |
| Quiterio | 2,125 | 36,695 |
| Quitl | 6,775 | |
| Quizaman | 6,099 |
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 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 Q.
You can also use our surname ranking tool to check how a name ranked in the 2000 and 2010 U.S. censuses.
