These are the most common Mexican last names beginning with R, ranked by how many people in Mexico have the name today.
This list has more prevalent names than most other letters. Five are in the top thirty in the country. Rodríguez, Ramírez, Reyes, Ruiz, and Rivera are those five. I will give the origins and meanings of each in this article.
It’s also noteworthy that these names also rank highly in the U.S. census. That shows that these names were also carried into the U.S. by non-Mexican Hispanic families, including Cuban and Dominican bearers.
This list is also different from others as there aren’t indigenous pre-conquest names here.
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 R
Let’s start with the alphabetical list of names from Rabadan to Rangel.
In this section, Ramirez is in the top ten names in Mexico, ranking ninth. This is a Spanish name that literally means “son of Ramiro”.
Ramiro is also in this section although its far less prevalent in Mexico. Ramiro dates back to medieval times and is a Visigoth name. The Germanic meaning translates as “renowned counselor”.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Rabadan | 1,290 | 23,817 |
| Rabago | 1,237 | 11,302 |
| Radilla | 761 | 33,499 |
| Rafael | 1,074 | 9,006 |
| Ramirez | 9 | 28 |
| Ramiro | 1,336 | 23,675 |
| Ramon | 373 | 3,108 |
| Ramos | 27 | 76 |
| Rangel | 97 | 578 |
Mexican Names From Rascon to Razo
Razo is the most common name in this section, although outside the top five hundred at #548.
There are several origin theories. Most scholars point to the Spanish word raso, which means flat and smooth. Early bearers likely lived on flat plains as opposed to woodland areas.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Rascon | 802 | 5,537 |
| Rasgado | 1,031 | 136,449 |
| Raya | 945 | 4,894 |
| Rayas | 1,521 | 15,527 |
| Raygoza | 1,210 | 7,431 |
| Raymundo | 1,314 | 8,718 |
| Rayon | 1,200 | 25,954 |
| Razo | 548 | 2,960 |
Mexican Names From Real to Reza
Reyes is the sixteenth most common name in Mexico. The meaning comes from the Spanish word for kings (rey translates as king).
Some early bearers worked at royal courts, and were conferred the nickname for their status.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Real | 954 | 5,045 |
| Rebollar | 954 | 9,568 |
| Rebolledo | 780 | 12,504 |
| Regalado | 548 | 2,791 |
| Rejon | 1,349 | 96,368 |
| Rendon | 208 | 1,778 |
| Renteria | 298 | 1,256 |
| Resendiz | 222 | 2,500 |
| Retana | 1,413 | 8,832 |
| Reyes | 16 | 60 |
| Reyna | 191 | 987 |
| Reynoso | 390 | 1,554 |
| Reza | 669 | 5,479 |
Mexican Names From Ricardez to Rocha
Rivera is the most common name in this section, ranking 26th in the country.
The meaning comes from the old Spanish word ribera, which means a riverbank. Early bearers lived by rivers.
The next most popular name in this section, Rios, has different origins but the same meaning. It translates as rivers in Spanish (ríos).
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Ricardez | 1,081 | 43,438 |
| Rico | 277 | 1,359 |
| Rincon | 329 | 2,215 |
| Rios | 51 | 237 |
| Rivas | 159 | 426 |
| Rivera | 26 | 46 |
| Rivero | 427 | 3,254 |
| Rizo | 1,025 | 5,547 |
| Roa | 704 | 5,589 |
| Robledo | 282 | 2,277 |
| Roblero | 462 | 10,539 |
| Robles | 81 | 386 |
| Rocha | 162 | 613 |
Mexican Names From Rodarte to Roque
Rodriguez is the 6th most common name in Mexico. It is also highly prevalent in the United States where it ranked 9th in the U.S. census.
This Spanish name literally means “son or Rodrigo”. Interestingly, the early origins are the Visigothic name Hrodric. The Old Germanic meaning translates as “renowned ruler”, with hrod as renowned and ric as king.
Romero is just in the top thirty, ranking 28th. Scholars point to two different origins.
One is from the Latin romaeus, which refers to a religious pilgrim to Rome. The other meaning stems from the Spanish word for the herb rosemary. Some early bearers were pilgrims while others likely gathered and sold the herb.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Rodarte | 799 | 4,008 |
| Rodas | 904 | 3,193 |
| Rodriguez | 6 | 9 |
| Rogel | 1,394 | 13,445 |
| Rojas | 41 | 285 |
| Rojo | 571 | 3,479 |
| Roldan | 372 | 2,671 |
| Roman | 136 | 452 |
| Romero | 28 | 115 |
| Romo | 268 | 1,343 |
| Ronquillo | 997 | 6,885 |
| Roque | 298 | 2,388 |
Mexican Names From Rosa to Ruvalcaba
Ruiz is the most common name in this section, ranking twentieth in Mexico.
The name means “son of Rodrigo”, which we covered in the previous section. So, let’s look at Rosales instead.
Rosales is a topographical name, which means it refers to aspects of the places people came from. In this case, the meaning comes from the word for rose bushes.
| Last Name | Mexico Rank | U.S. Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Rosa | 1,472 | 1,035 |
| Rosado | 350 | 1,301 |
| Rosales | 86 | 431 |
| Rosario | 1,141 | 725 |
| Rosas | 82 | 765 |
| Rosete | 1,237 | 15,833 |
| Ruano | 1,168 | 6,240 |
| Rubio | 149 | 673 |
| Rueda | 366 | 3,829 |
| Ruelas | 501 | 3,140 |
| Ruiz | 20 | 89 |
| Ruvalcaba | 455 | 3,217 |
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 R.
You can also use our surname ranking tool to check how a name ranked in the 2000 and 2010 U.S. censuses.
