Frequency: (1551)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Spanish: topographic name for someone living by a main road, carrera ‘thoroughfare’, originally a road passable by vehicles as well as pedestrians (Late Latin carraria (via), a derivative of carrum ‘cart’), or a habitational name from any of various places named with this word.
2. Southern Italian: habitational name from a place named Carrera, cognate with 1.
GIVEN NAMES: Spanish 44%. Jose (28), Manuel (23), Juan (16), Jesus (15), Luis (15), Pedro (11), Carlos (10), Ruben (9), Guadalupe (7), Mario (7), Miguel (7), Ramon (7); Antonio (6), Salvatore (4), Geno (3), Mauro (3), Sal (3), Vito (3), Eliseo (2), Flavio (2), Gabino (2), Aldino, Aldo, Alessandro.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
