1000 Most Common Last Names in Costa Rica

Spanish (Rodríguez) and Portuguese: patronymic from the personal name Rodrigo.

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from Vargas in Santander province, or a topographic name from vargas, plural of varga, a dialect term used in various senses: ‘(thatched) hut’, ‘steep slope’, or ‘fenced pastureland which becomes waterlogged in winter’.

Spanish (Jiménez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Jimeno, which is of pre-Roman origin.

Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan (Móra): habitational name from any of the places named Mora, in some cases from mora ‘mulberry’ (Late Latin mora, originally the plural of classical Latin morum). Occitan and Catalan (Morà): from Morandus, an old personal name of uncertain derivation and meaning. Italian: topographic name from Old Italian mora ‘pile of stones’. Hungarian (Móra): from a pet form of the personal name Móricz, Hungarian form of Morris. Czech and Polish: from a short form of a personal name, e.g. Czech Mauric, Polish Maurycy, derived from Latin Mauritius (see Morris). Polish: possibly a nickname from mora ‘sickness’, ‘plague’. Czech: possibly a nickname from mora ‘vampire’.

Spanish: habitational name from places in Burgos or Lugo (Galicia) named Rojas, from a derivative of rojo ‘red’.

Spanish (González): patronymic from the personal name Gonzalo, a personal name of Visigothic origin, based on the Germanic element gunþ ‘battle’. Compare Portuguese Gonçalves (see Goncalves).

Spanish (Sánchez): patronymic from the personal name Sancho.

Spanish (Hernández) and Jewish (Sephardic): patronymic from the personal name Hernando (see Fernando). This surname also became established in southern Italy, mainly in Naples and Palermo, since the period of Spanish dominance there, and as a result of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century, many of whom moved to Italy.

Spanish (Ramírez): patronymic from the personal name Ramiro, composed of the Germanic elements ragin ‘counsel’ + mari, meri ‘fame’.

Galician, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish (Sephardic): topographic name from castro ‘castle’, ‘fortress’ (Latin castrum ‘fort’, ‘Roman walled city’): in Galicia and also in northern Portugal a habitational name from any of various places named with this word; in Italy either a topographic name or a habitational name.

Spanish (López): patronymic from the medieval personal name Lope (from Latin lupus ‘wolf’). This is one of the commonest of all Spanish surnames.

Castilianized form of Basque and Catalan Araia, a habitational name from any of various places called Araia, for example in Araba, Basque Country, and Catelló de la Plana, Valencia. Spanish: habitational name from any of the places called Araya, as for example the one in Canary Islands. Japanese: meaning ‘wild valley’ or ‘new valley’; found in eastern Japan and pronounced Aratani in western Japan. Neither version is particularly common.

Spanish, Aragonese, Asturian-Leonese: habitational name from any of the places named Solano (Burgos and Málaga provinces) or El Solano (Asturies, and Uesca, Aragon), named with solano ‘place exposed to the sun’ (Late Latin solanum, a derivative of sol ‘sun’). Spanish and Portuguese: from a personal name adopted in honor of Francisco Solano, a 17th-century missionary to South America. Italian: possibly also from the personal name adopted in honor of Francisco Solano.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Badajoz province called Alvarado.

Portuguese: habitational name from a place in the province of Tras-os-Montes named Chaves, from Latin (aquis) Flaviis, ‘(at the) waters of Flavius’. The place was the site of sulfurous springs with supposedly health-giving properties, around which a settlement was founded in the 1st century ad by the Emperor Vespasian. Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of numerous places called Chaves, generally from the plural of chave ‘key’, from Latin clavis. Variant of Irish and English Chivers. Compare Chavers.

Spanish (Pérez) and Jewish (Sephardic): patronymic from the personal name Pedro, Spanish equivalent of Peter. Jewish: variant of Peretz.

Spanish: topographic name from the plural of moral ‘mulberry tree’.

Portuguese: topographic name from campos ‘fields’, denoting someone who lived in the countryside as opposed to a town.

Spanish: habitational name from Quesada, a place in Jaén province. The place name is of uncertain derivation; there may be some connection with Old Spanish requexada ‘corner’, ‘tight spot’.

Spanish (Gómez): from a medieval personal name, probably of Visigothic origin, from guma ‘man’. Compare Gomes.

Spanish: from the popular medieval personal name Arias which is probably of Germanic origin. Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Spanish family name.

Asturian-Leonese (Quirós): habitational name from Quirós in Asturies.

Spanish (Fernández): patronymic from the personal name Fernando. The surname (and to a lesser extent the variant Hernandez) has also been established in southern Italy, mainly in Naples and Palermo, since the period of Spanish dominance there, and as a result of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century, many of whom moved to Italy.

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Salazar in Burgos, probably named with sala ‘hall’ + Basque za(h)ar ‘old’, and thus a Basque equivalent of Saavedra. Spanish: Castilianized variant of Basque Zaraitzu, a habitational name from a town so named in Navarre.

Spanish: habitational name from Villalobos in Zamora province, named from villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + lobos, plural of lobo ‘wolf’.

Spanish (Gutiérrez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Gutierre, from a Visigothic personal name of uncertain form and meaning, perhaps a compound of the elements gunþi ‘battle’ + hairus ‘sword’.

Spanish (García) and Portuguese: from a medieval personal name of uncertain origin. It is normally found in medieval records in the Latin form Garsea, and may well be of pre-Roman origin, perhaps akin to Basque (h)artz ‘bear’.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Logroño province named Alfaro, apparently from Arabic al ‘the’ + Old Spanish faro ‘beacon’, ‘lighthouse’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Vega or La Vega, from vega ‘meadow’ (of pre-Roman origin, probably originally denoting irrigated land).

Spanish, Catalan, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of numerous places called Aguilar, from Latin aquilare ‘haunt of eagles’ (a derivative of aquila ‘eagle’), for example Aguilar de Campo in Palencia, Aguilar de la Frontera in Córdoba, and Aguilar de Segarra in Catalonia.

Spanish (Calderón): topographic name from an augmentative of caldera ‘basin’, ‘crater’, ‘hollow’, a common element of stream and mountain names, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example Calderón in Valencia province. Alternatively, it may be a metonymic occupational name from the same word in the sense ‘kettle’, ‘cauldron’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Valverde ‘green valley’.

Spanish (Chavarría): variant of Echevarria.

Spanish (Álvarez): from a patronymic form of the personal name Álvaro (see Alvaro).

Spanish: from castillo ‘castle’, ‘fortified building’ (Latin castellum), a habitational name from any of numerous places so named or named with this word.

Spanish, Galician, Aragonese, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places called with Salas, like Salas and Salas de los Barrios, (Galicia), Salas de los Infantes, (Burgos province), Salas Altas and Salas Baxas (Aragon), from the plural of Sala. Catalan and Asturian-Leonese: variant of Sales. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Szálas, a nickname from szálas ‘tall’.

South American spelling of Spanish Espinosa; the spelling with -z- represents a voiced pronunciation heard in some Latin-American countries, whereas in Castilian Spanish it now has an unvoiced -s-.

Spanish (Martínez): patronymic from the personal name Martin.

Spanish and Asturian-Leonese (Solís): habitational name from Solís in Asturies or a similarly named place elsewhere. English: from a medieval personal name bestowed on a child born after the death of a sibling, from Middle English solace ‘comfort’, ‘consolation’. The word also came to have the sense ‘delight’, ‘amusement’, and in some cases the surname may have arisen from a nickname for a playful or entertaining person.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places called Murillo, notably in Navarre, Logroño, and Zaragoza provinces, so named from a diminutive of muro ‘wall’.

habitational name from any of numerous places named Soto or El Soto, from soto ‘grove’, ‘small wood’ (Latin saltus). Castilianized spelling of Asturian-Leonese Sotu, a habitational name from a town so named in Asturies. Castilianized spelling of the Galician equivalent, Souto.

Spanish (Chacón): nickname from chacón ‘gecko’.

Spanish: from cordero ‘young lamb’ (Latin cordarius, a derivative of cordus ‘young’, ‘new’), hence a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd, or alternatively a nickname meaning ‘lamb’.

Galician (Méndez): patronymic from the personal name Mendo (see Mendes, of which this is the Galician equivalent).

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from villages so called in the provinces of Seville and Badajoz, from a word meaning ‘iron smithy’, ‘blacksmith’s forge’ (a derivative of hierro ‘iron’, Latin ferrum). French: habitational name from the Gascon form of Ferrière, a place in Pyrénées-Atlantique. The place name is derived from Latina ferraria ‘iron-mine’, ‘iron-forge’.

Portuguese and Spanish: from Portuguese monge, Spanish monje ‘monk’ (a loanword from Old Occitan, from Latin monachus). French: from a short form of Demonge, a pet form of the personal name Dominique (see Domingo). Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead in Romsdal named Monge.

Spanish: occupational name for a beater or other assistant at a hunt, from an agent derivative of monte, which, as well as meaning ‘mountain’, ‘hill’, could be used in the transferred sense of a game forest on wooded upland. The occupational term was itself also used as a title for any of various palace functionaries, and some cases of the surname may derive from this.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of various places called Segura, named with segura ‘safe’, ‘secure’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Avila, Burgos, Cáceres, and Guadalajara, apparently so called from Late Latin matricale, an adjective derivative of matrix ‘womb’, ‘river bed’.

Spanish (Díaz): patronymic from the medieval personal name Didacus (see Diego).

Spanish (Marín), French, English, Slovenian, Croatian, and Romanian: from the Latin personal name Marinus, borne by several minor early saints. Originally this was a Roman family name derived from Marius (compare Marie), but was often taken to mean ‘of the sea’. Italian (Venetia): variant of Marino. Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian: from the personal name Marija or its short form Mara (see Maria). Galician and Spanish: habitational name from a place called Marín, in particular the one in Pontevedra, Galicia. French: occupational name for a sailor, Old French marin (Late Latin marinus, a derivative of mare ‘sea’). Asturian-Leonese (Marín): occupational name for a sailor in Asturies.

Spanish: habitational name from Porras, a town in Andalusia, or nickname from the plural of porra ‘cudgel’, ‘club’, nickname either for a stockily built person or for a tiresome person. ‘Porras!’ is also used as an idiomatic expression meaning ‘Go to the Devil’. Galician: habitational name from any of three places in Lugo province named Porras.

English (Yorkshire): variant spelling of Fallis. Spanish: probably nickname from the plural of Falla. . Jewish (Sephardic): borrowing of the Spanish surname.

Spanish, Italian, and Jewish (Sephardic) (of Basque origin): regional name denoting someone from Navarre (see Navarra).

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rivera, a variant of Ribera. Italian: northern variant of the southern (especially Sicily) topographic name Ribera. Catalan: in some cases, variant of Catalan Ribera.

Galician, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the numerous places named Torres, all named with the plural of torre ‘tower’ (see Torre). Italian: habitational name from Torres in Belluno or Porto Torres in Sassari. In southern Italy the surname is sometimes a borrowing from Spanish (see 1). Dutch: from a short form of Victoris, from the Latin personal name Victorius.

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from any of several places named for a spring that dried up during the summer months, from fonte seca ‘dry well’.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for a bald-headed man, from calvo ‘bald’ (Latin calvus).

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname for a thin person, from Spanish, Portuguese delgado ‘slender’ (Latin delicatus ‘dainty’, ‘exquisite’, a derivative of deliciae ‘delight’, ‘joy’).

Spanish: patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a short formnof Rodrigo. DK, kh, RS

Spanish: from hidalgo ‘nobleman’ (attested in this form since the 12th century), a contraction of the phrase hijo de algo ‘son of something’. The expression hijo de (Latin filius ‘son’ + de ‘of’) is used to indicate the abundant possession of a quality, probably influenced by similar Arabic phrases with ibn; algo (Latin aliquid ‘something’) is used in an elliptical manner to refer to riches or importance. As in the case of other surnames denoting high rank, the name does not normally refer to the nobleman himself, but is usually an occupational name for his servant or a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces.

Spanish: habitational name from places in the provinces of Santander and Navarra called Arce. Their name is a Castilianized spelling of Basque artze ‘stony place’ (from arri ‘stone’ + the suffix of abundance -tz(e)).

Spanish: habitational name from Obando in Extremadura province.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of Zamora in northwestern Spain, capital of the province which bears its name.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of numerous places named Molina, in particular the one in Guadalajara province.

Spanish and Portuguese: from a common and widespread religious Christian personal name from cruz ‘cross’ (Latin crux), or a habitational name from any of numerous places named Cruz or La Cruz, from this word.

Galician and possibly also Spanish: patronymic from the personal name Vasco, reduced form of Spanish Velásquez (see Velasquez).

Spanish: habitational name from Bonilla in Cuenca province or Bonilla de la Sierra in Ávila province.

Spanish: nickname from picado, literally ‘pockmarked’, figuratively ‘peeved’.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of numerous places in Spain and Portugal called Miranda. The derivation of the place name is uncertain; it may be of pre-Roman origin, or from Latin miranda ‘view’, ‘outlook’. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Basque: topographic name composed of the elements gain ‘peak’, ‘summit’ + boa ‘rounded’.

Spanish: variant of Badillo.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from Mena, in Castile and León provinces. Greek (Menas): see Minas.

Spanish: variant of Esquibel.

Spanish: habtational name of any of the many places called (Los) Corrales, plural of Corral, plural of Corral.

Spanish: from the plural of flor ‘flower’.

Portuguese: unexplained. This very common Portuguese surname seems to have originated in Andalusia, Spain.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named with arroyo ‘watercourse’, ‘irrigation channel’ (a word of pre-Roman origin).

Spanish: habitational name from Chinchilla de Monte Aragón in Albacete province.

Spanish (Guzmán): of uncertain and disputed etymology, probably from a Germanic personal name. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): variant of Gusman.

Spanish: topographic name from the plural of granado ‘pomegranate tree’ (see Granado 2).

formerly most common in the Basque country and in Aragon, this name is generally assumed to be from abarca ‘sandal’ (Basque abarka), which refers to the traditional Basque peasant sandal or moccasin made of uncured leather. In the past this word was also applied to footwear made from wooden materials, and is probably derived from Basque abar ‘branch’, ‘twig’. Some scholars, however, think that abarka is an old topographic term referring to a grove of holm oaks or kermes oaks. habitational name from the village of Abarca in the province of Palencia.

Basque: habitational name from Elizondo, a town in Navarre, or topographic name for someone who lived near a church, from eleiza ‘church’ + the suffix -ondo ‘near’, ‘beside’.

Spanish: patronymic from the Basque personal name Orti (Latin Fortunius).

Spanish: nickname for a man with white or fair hair or a pale complexion, from blanco ‘white’. Italian (Sicily): variant of Bianco, perhaps influenced by French blanc and Spanish (see 1 above).

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived near an oak grove, from a collective noun derivative of carvallo ‘oak’, or a habitational name from a place so named, for example in Málaga province. Compare Carbajal.

Spanish (León): habitational name from León, a city in northwestern Spain, named with Latin legio, genitive legionis ‘legion’, a division of the Roman army. In Roman times the city was the garrison of the 7th Legion, known as the Legio Gemina. The city’s name became reduced from Legion(em) to Leon(em), and in this form developed an unetymological association with the word for ‘lion’, Spanish león. Spanish: from the personal name León, from Greek leon ‘lion’ (see Lyon 2). Leon is also found as a Greek family name. Spanish: nickname for a fierce or brave warrior, from león ‘lion’. French (Léon) and English: variant of Lyon.

Spanish (Durán) and Catalan: from the personal name Durand (see Durant, Durante). English: variant of Durant. Polish: from a derivative of Dura. Czech: from a derivative of Dura.

Spanish (Cortés), Catalan (Cortès), and Portuguese (Cortês): from cortés ‘courteous’, ‘polite’, a derivative of corte (see Corte), a nickname for a refined person, sometimes no doubt given ironically. Spanish and Portuguese (Cortes): habitational name from any of numerous places in Spain and Portugal named with cortes, plural of corte ‘court’.

Spanish and Aragonese (Agüero): habitational name from places in the provinces of Uesca (Aragon) and Santander named Agüero or from Puente Agüero in Santander province. They are probably named from Late Latin (vicus) aquarius ‘well-watered (settlement)’.

Spanish (Céspedes): from the plural of cesped ‘peat’, ‘turf’ (Latin caespes, genitive caespitis), applied as a habitational name from a place named Céspedes (for example in Burgos province) or named with this word, or a topographic name for someone who lived by an area of peat, or possibly as a metonymic occupational name for someone who cut and sold turf.

Spanish: habitational name from Villegas, a place in Burgos province.

Spanish: nickname from romero ‘pilgrim’, originally ‘pilgrim to Rome’ (see Romeo).

Spanish (Bermúdez): patronymic from Bermudo, a Germanic (Visigothic) personal name of uncertain etymology.

Spanish (also found in Portugal and Brazil): topographic name for someone who lived by a mountain ridge or chain of hills, from an adjectival derivative of serra.

Portuguese: variant spelling of Barbosa.

Spanish: patronymic from Arabic or Jewish ben ‘son’ + the medieval personal name Ega(s), probably of Visigothic origin. Compare Portuguese Viegas.

Spanish: habitational name from Encima-Angulo in Burgos province.

Portuguese and Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places in Portugal and Spain named Mata, from mata ‘wood’, ‘forest’. Catalan: topographic name from mata ‘scrub’. Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal name Máté (see Matthew).

Spanish (Alpízar): habitational name from Alpízar, a place in Huelva province.

A Portuguese toponymic, from the village near Braga.

Spanish: unexplained. This is a frequent name in Spain.

Basque: habitational name from Ugalde in Araba province. The first element of place name is ug- meaning ‘river’, ‘water’.

plural variant of Rey. Castilianized form of the Galician habitational name Reis.

Spanish (from Galician): habitational name from Ortega in A Coruña province. Spanish: nickname from ortega ‘(female) black grouse’ (from Greek ortyx ‘quail’). Southern French (Occitan): topographic name from Occitan ortiga ‘nettle’ (Latin urtica, French ortie).

Basque: habitational name from any of the places called Arrieta, for example in the provinces of Araba, Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Navarre, from Basque arri ‘stone’ + the suffix -eta ‘place or group of’.

Galician: habitational name from any of the places in Galicia named Varela, from a diminutive of vara ‘rod’, ‘stick’. Greek (Varelas): from Greek varela ‘barrel’, from Italian barella ‘barrel’. Accented on the final syllable, varelás is a metonymic occupational name for a cooper; with the accent on the middle syllable, varélas is a nickname for a large fat man.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rosales, from the plural of rosal, collective of rosa ‘rose’ (see Rosal). Galician (Rosalés): name for someone from Rosal, a town in Baixo Miñ district in Galicia.

Spanish: habitational name from Moya, in Cuenca, or from places so named Valencia, Lugo, and the Canaries. Catalan (Moyà): variant spelling of the habitational name from Moià in Barcelona province, named in Late Latin as Modianus ‘(estate) of Modius’ (a personal name derived from Latin modus ‘measure’).

One who came from Sandoval, in Spain.The latin "sancto-vallis" - holy valley - provides the meaning of this surname. One who dwells in a holy valley.Castilian name from political subdivision of Villadiego (Burgos), and descended from Count Fernán-González.

Spanish: patronymic from the common medieval personal name Ben Avid, of Arabic origin, from ibn ?Abd ‘son of the servant (of God)’ see Benavidez.

Basque: habitational name from several places in the provinces of Arava and Biscay called Mendoza, named with Basque mendi ‘mountain’ + otz ‘cold’ + the definite article -a.

Spanish (of Basque origin): habitational name from Orozco in Bilbao province.

Catalan (Garró): from garró ‘calf’, presumably applied as a nickname. Portuguese: nickname from garro ‘leper’.

Spanish: nickname for a person with some peculiarity of the cheek or jaw, Spanish carrillo. The word is attested since the 13th century, but its origin is uncertain. It appears to be a diminutive of carro ‘cart’, ‘wagon’, and it has been suggested that the reference is to the movements of the jaw in chewing. The surname may also have denoted originally a bold or shameless person; for the semantic development compare Cheek.

Basque: Castilianized form of Basque Gebara, a habitational name from a place in the Basque province of Araba. The origin and meaning of the place name are uncertain; it is recorded in the form Gebala by the geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century ad. This is a rare name in Spain.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from a place called Morera or La Morera, especially Morera in Badajoz province, or La Morera de Montsant in Catalonia, named with Spanish and Catalan morera ‘mulberry tree’.

Portuguese: from the personal name Duarte, Portuguese equivalent of Edward.

Spanish and Galician: habitational name from any of various places named Coto, for example in Ciudad Real and Pontevedra provinces.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for an aggressive person or for a soldier, from an agent derivative of guerra ‘war’. Compare Guerra.

Spanish: Castilianized variant of Basque Erretana, a habitational name from Erretana in Araba, Basque Country.

Spanish (Córdoba): habitational name from the city of Córdoba in southern Spain, of extremely ancient foundation and unknown etymology.

Italian and Jewish (from Italy): variant of Lauria. Jewish (western and eastern Ashkenazic): of uncertain origin; perhaps the same as 1. Spanish: unexplained.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the various minor places, for example in the provinces of Burgos, Guadalajara, and Valladolid, named from Spanish padilla ‘frying pan’, ‘breadpan’ (Latin patella, a diminutive of patina ‘shallow dish’), a word which was commonly used in the topographical sense of a gentle depression.

Spanish and Portuguese (Paniágua): status name for a servant who worked for his board (pan ‘bread’ and agua ‘water’) and lodging.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named with fuentes, plural of fuente ‘spring’, ‘well’ (see Fuente), as for example Fuentes (Cuenca, Albacete, and Segovia provinces), Fuentes Calientes (Teruel), Fuentes de León (Badajoz), Fuentes de Valdepero (Palencia).

Spanish: habitational name a place called Leiva, chiefly the one in La Rioja province and to a lesser extent the one in Murcia.

Spanish: habitational name from Puebla de Sanabria in Zamora province.

Spanish (Ávila): habitational name from Ávila in old Castile. Its name, first recorded in the Latin forms Avela and Abulia, is of unknown derivation and meaning. Portuguese and Galician: from Davila, a topographic name for someone from a town or village, da vila, reinterpreted as d’Avila.

Castilianized form of Basque Karrantza, a habitational name from Karrantza in Biscay province, Basque Country.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named or named with Piedra (as for example La Piedra in Burgos province) or a topographic name from piedra ‘rock’.

Spanish (Guillén): from the personal name Guillén, Spanish equivalent of William.

Spanish: habitational name from Oviedo, Spanish form of Asturian-Leonese Uviéu, name of the regional capital of Asturies, found in early records in the Latin form Ovetum.

Spanish: occupational name for a cooper, from an agent derivative of cuba ‘barrel’, ‘tub’.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived by an orange grove, from Spanish naranjo ‘orange tree’ (from naranja ‘orange’, Arabic naránjya), or a habitational name from a place named Naranjo in A Coruña and Códoba provinces. (The word orange reached English from Spanish via Old French and Old Provençal, in which languages the initial n- had already been sporadically lost.)

Galician: habitational name from either of two places in Galicia named Ulloa (in A Coruña and Lugo provinces).

Spanish: from Matamoros meaning ‘killer of Moors’, a title given to Spain’s patron saint, St. James, in the Middle Ages (from matar ‘to kill’ + moros ‘Moors’). According to legend, the saint appeared to a 9th-century Spanish king during a battle, and enabled him to massacre 60,000 Saracens.

Spanish: habitational name from places called Carmona, in the provinces of Santander and (more famously) Seville. The place name is of pre-Roman origin and uncertain meaning.

Spanish (Solórzano): habitational name from Solórzano in Santander province.

Spanish and Galician: from carballo ‘oak’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous oak tree or in an oak wood, or a habitational name from any of several villages so named in Galicia. Castilianized form of Asturian-Leonese Carbachu, a habitational name from and old form of Asturian-Leonese carbayu ‘oak’, of pre-Latin origin.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from Spanish and Portuguese lobo ‘wolf’ (Latin lupus). This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Spanish: unexplained, probably from Granada province.

Spanish: topographic name from the plural of roble ‘oak’, or a habitational name from Los Robles in Lleón, named from the same word.

Spanish (Mejías): variant of Mejía (see Mejia).

Spanish: habitational name from Conteraras, a place in the province of Burgos. The place name is derived from Late Latin contraria ‘surrounding area’, ‘region’ (from the preposition contra ‘opposite’, ‘against’, ‘hard by’).

Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan: from a medieval personal name, Latin Amator ‘lover (i.e. of God)’, from amare ‘to love’. As a personal name it was particularly popular in the 16th century, having been borne by various saints.

Portuguese, Galician, and Jewish (Sephardic): topographic name from Portuguese pereira ‘pear tree’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word in Portugal and Galicia. The surname is also common in western India, having been taken there by Portuguese colonists.

Spanish, Asturian-Leonese, and Galician: topographic name from the plural of busto ‘meadow’, ‘willow’, or a habitational name from either of the places so named, in León and Galicia (see Busto).

Portugese and Spanish: habitational name from any of the towns called Ramos, in Portugal and Spain. Portuguese and Spanish: from the plural of ramo ‘branch’ (Latin ramus), a topographic name for someone who lived in a thickly wooded area.

Spanish and Italian: from the personal name Valerio (Latin Valerius, a Roman family name ultimately derived from Latin valere ‘to flourish’, ‘to be strong and healthy’). The name was borne by several minor Christian saints, among them 4th-century bishops of Trier and Zaragoza and 5th-century bishops of Sorrento and of Antibes.

Spanish (Suárez): occupational name for a swineherd, Latin Suerius. Compare Portuguese Soares.

Portuguese and Spanish: altered form (by misdivision) of Da Costa.

Spanish: habitational name from a place named Lara de los Infantes in Burgos province.

Spanish form of Basque Agirre, a topographic name from Basque ager, agir ‘open space’, ‘pasture’. This is found as the first element of several place names, reflected in surnames such as Aguirrezabal(a) ‘broad open space’; the modern surname may be a shortening of any of these.

Spanish (Sáenz): patronymic from an unidentified personal name.

Galician and Spanish (Ríos): habitational name from any of the places called Ríos, predominantly in Galicia. Spanish (Ríós): habitational name from Ríós in Ourense, Galicia.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. Welsh Ap-Rice or Ap-Rees=son of Rice (q.v).'Item, geven to Harry ap-Rice', 1544: Privy Purse Exp., Princess Mary.Philip ap Rys. Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium in Turri Londinensi.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places named Villar(r)eal, from Spanish villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + real ‘royal’ (Latin regalis), as for example Villarreal de San Carlos in Cáceres. The places were so named from having some particular connection with the Crown. in some cases, variant of Catalan Vila-real, from the town named Vila-real in Castelló de la Plana provinve.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the several places, as for example Medina-Sidonia in Cádiz province and Medina del Campo in Valladolid, so called from Arabic medina ‘city’. The surname is also borne by Sephardic Jews.

possibly Basque: unexplained.

Spanish (Godínez): patronymic from the personal name Godino.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): nickname for someone with dark hair and a swarthy complexion, from Spanish and Portuguese moreno ‘dark-haired’, a word of uncertain origin, probably from Late Latin maurinus, a derivative of classical Latin Maurus ‘Moor’. Compare Moore 2.

Catalan, French, English, German (also Romann), Polish, Hungarian (Román), Romanian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian: from the Latin personal name Romanus, which originally meant ‘Roman’. This name was borne by several saints, including a 7th-century bishop of Rouen. English, French, and Catalan: regional or ethnic name for someone from Rome or from Italy in general, or a nickname for someone who had some connection with Rome, as for example having been there on a pilgrimage. Compare Romero.

Spanish: habitational name any of the various places in southern Spain named Jara or La Jara, from jara ‘rockrose’, ‘cistus’.

Spanish (Meléndez): variant of Menéndez (see Menendez).

Spanish (Mejía): probably from a religious byname (possibly under Jewish influence), from a vernacular form of Latin, Greek Messias ‘Messiah’, from Hebrew mašia?h ‘anointed’.

Spanish: variant spelling of Ledesma.

Basque: topographic name from Basque loa ‘mud’, ‘mire’, with the suffix -tza denoting abundance. This name is now well established in Mexico and Colombia.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Soria province.

Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the numerous places in Spain (especially in Galicia) and Portugal named or named with Prado, from prado ‘meadow’ (from Latin pratum).

Spanish: habitational name from Mayorga in Valladolid province (Latin Maiorica).

Spanish (Argüello): habitational name from any of various minor places called Arguello, from Old Spanish arboleo ‘well-wooded’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Rivas or Ribas, a variant of Ribas. in some cases, variant of Catalan Ribes (see Ribas).

Masculine adjective referring to someone from Béjar, a city in the Salamanca province of western Spain.Of Portuguese origin but established in Estremadura in 13th century.

Spanish: from centeno ‘rye’ (Late Latin centenum, a derivative of centum ‘hundred’, so called as the plant was supposed to be capable of producing a hundred grains on each stalk). The a surname may have arisen as a metonymic occupational name for someone who grew or sold rye, or a topographic name for someone who lived by a field given over to the cultivation of this crop.

Galician: probably a habitational name from Tenorio in Pontevedra province, Galicia.

Variant of Spanish Celedón, from a short form of the personal name Celedonio.

Spanish: from conejo ‘rabbit’ (from Latin cuniculus), presumably applied as a nickname with various possible connotations (big ears, timidity, etc.) or otherwise as a metonymic occupational name for a rabbit catcher or dealer.

Spanish and Portuguese: from a personal name of uncertain, possibly pre-Roman, origin.

Spanish: from moraga ‘barbecue’, from Arabic.

Spanish: from pizarra ‘slate’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived near a slate quarry or occupational name for someone who worked in one.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: habitational name from any of various places in Spain, Portugal, and Italy called Montenegro (‘black mountain’).

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Burgos province named Villalta, from villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + alto ‘high(lying)’.

Galician: topographic name for someone who lived by a beech tree or in a beech wood, from Late Latin fagea (arbor) ‘beech (tree)’, a derivative of classical Latin fagus ‘beech’.

Italian: from the personal name Guido, Italian equivalent of Guy.

ethnic name for a German, alemán. from the old personal name Alemannus, with the same meaning.

Spanish (Juárez): regional variant of Suárez (see Suarez).

Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, and southern Italian: habitational name from any of various places named or named with Palma, from Latin palma ‘palm’. Portuguese: habitational name for someone from Parma in Italy.

Santa Maria: meaning "Holy Mary" in Spanish and Italian. Name adopted by converted Jews forced to believe in Christianity, changing their last names to religious names given by the Spanish kingdom.(other)Coming from the Spanish region of Andalusia, El Puerto de Santa María was home to other bearers of the last name.

Spanish (Cárdenas): habitational name from places in the provinces of Almería and Logroño named Cárdenas, from the feminine plural of cárdeno ‘blue’, ‘bluish purple’ (Late Latin cardinus, from carduus ‘thistle’). Presumably the noun tierras ‘lands’ is to be understood, and the reference is to land covered with bluish plants, such as thistles or vines.

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Galician: from parra ‘vine bower’, ‘trellis’, a topographic name or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word.

Galician: topographic name meaning ‘the field’, from the Galician definite article o (masculine singular) + campo ‘field’ (Latin campus), or habitational name from a town of this name in Lugo province, Galicia.

This is a Leonese name from Astorga. Found throughout the Peninsula and also Colombia.

Spanish (Castilian and Galician): topographic name from Old Spanish acebedo, azevedo ‘holly grove’ (from azevo ‘holly’ + -edo ‘plantation’). This name is common in Tenerife.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places called Canales, from canales, plural of canal ‘canal’, ‘water channel’, from Latin canalis.

Spanish: habitational name from Montiel, a place in Ciudad Real province.

Basque: habitational name from Corella in Navarre province, Basque Country. Italian: possibly from diminutive of a feminine form of Core.

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic name, a plural form of Monte. Dutch: patronymic from a short form of a Germanic compound personal name formed with -mund ‘protection’ as the final element. Compare Raymond.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places, especially in León province, named Castrillo from castrillo ‘fort’, a diminutive of Castro.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Spain and Portugal named Estrada, from estrada ‘road’, Latin stata (via) (from sternere ‘to strew or cover’), a term denoting a paved way.

Spanish: habitational name from places called Luna in Zaragoza, Araba, and Lleón provinces. Jewish (Sephardic): from the female personal name Luna (Spanish luna ‘moon’).

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Portugal and Galicia called Moreira, from moreira ‘mulberry tree’.

Galician: habitational name from any of the places in Galicia named Figueroa, from a derivative of figueira ‘fig tree’.

Spanish: topographic name for someone living on or by a cluster of hillocks, from the plural of cabeza ‘head’, ‘hillock’ (see Cabeza).

Basque: habitational name from Urbina in Araba province, Basque Country, or a topographic name probably for someone who lived near a confluence, from Basque ur- ‘water’ + bi ‘two’.

English, Spanish, and Portuguese: nickname for a loyal or trustworthy person, from Old French leial, Spanish and Portuguese leal ‘loyal’, ‘faithful (to obligations)’, Latin legalis, from lex, ‘law’, ‘obligation’ (genitive legis).

Spanish (Obregón): habitational name from Obregón in Santander province.

Spanish: unexplained. Perhaps a variant of Pedraza.

Spanish (Jarquín): ethnic name for someone from the east, from jarqui, from Arabic sharqi ‘eastern’. This name is common in Mexico.

Spanish: plural variant of Vallejo.

Spanish: variant (plural) of Palacio.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from bravo ‘fierce’, ‘violent’, ‘courageous’ (from Latin barbarus ‘barbarian’, ‘ruffian’).

Spanish: habitational name from Siles in Jaén province.

Aragonese, Catalan, and Spanish: habitational name from any of the places in Aragon, Catalonia, and Navarre called Peralta, from Latin petra alta ‘high rock’. This name is also established in Italy.

Spanish: habitational name from Meneses de Campos (Palencia, Castile), or for an ethnic name for someone from the Mena valley in Burgos. Portuguese: habitational name from any of the several places named Meneses in Portugal.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician: either a habitational name from any of the numerous places in Portugal and Galicia named Redondo, or a nickname for a plump person, also from redondo ‘round’ (Latin rotundus).

Spanish: nickname from corea ‘chorea’. Spanish: variant of Correa. Southern Italian: possibly a habitational name from Corea, a place in Calabria.

Spanish: nickname from the past participle of hurtar ‘to rob or conceal’ (Late Latin furtare, from furtum ‘theft’, fur ‘thief’). The reference was probably to an illegitimate child, whose existence was concealed, or to a kidnapped child.

Italian and Spanish: from the personal name Leandro, Greek Leandros, which is composed of the elements leon ‘lion’ + aner (genitive andros) ‘man’. In Greek legend, Leander is the name of a hero who swam across the Hellespont every night to visit his beloved, Hero, and back again in the morning, but was eventually drowned during a violent storm. In Christian times, the name was borne by a 6th-century saint, who was a leading ecclesiastical figure of his day, a friend of Gregory the Great, and became archbishop of Seville. Leandros is also found as a Greek family name.

Castilianized form (alongside Araoz) of Basque Araotz, a habitational name from a town called Araotz in Gipuzkoa province, Basque Country; or possibly also a topographic name from Basque ara(n) ‘valley’ + an unidentified suffix, or alternatively a reduced form of Aranotz, from aran ‘valley’ + otz ‘cold’.

Spanish (Aragón) and French: regional name from Aragon, an independent kingdom from 1035 to 1479, which took its name from the river Aragón that arises in its northwestern corner. The river name is of obscure origin; it may be related to Basque (h)ara(n) ‘valley’. In Basque, Aragon is called Aragoa or Aragoi, which may mean ‘high valley’. See also Dragon, Deragon.

Spanish: from coronado ‘crowned’, past participle of coronare ‘to crown’, applied as a nickname for someone who behaved in an imperious manner.

One who came from Barrios (district, suburb); the name of many places in Spain.Popular surname found in most of the Peninsula, but mainly in northern areas: Leon, Vizcaya, and Burgos. Over 30 towns and villages in all parts of Spain with this name which implies a political subdivision, a ward or suburb.

Spanish: probably a Castilianized or Americanized form of Sousa, or (less likely) from sosa ‘seaweed’.

Spanish and Aragonese (of Basque origin): habitational name from any of the places in La Rioja, Aragon, and Basque Country named Navarrete, from Basque (spoken in all those areas in pre-Roman times) Nafarrete ‘plateau between two small valleys’, a derivative of naba (see Nava, Navarra).

Catalan and Spanish: habitational name from any of various minor places called Cabrera, from Late Latin capraria ‘place of goats’ (a derivative of Latin capra ‘goat’).

Spanish (D’Ávila): habitational name for someone from Ávila (see Avila). Galician and Portuguese (da Vila): topographic name for someone ‘from the village (vila)’.

Spanish: habitational name for someone from any of several place called Altamira, for example the one in the province of Ávila which is famous for its spectacular cave paintings.

Portuguese, Galician, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the many places called Silva, or a topographic name from silva ‘thicket’, ‘bramble’.

Galician: habitational name from a place in Lugo province named Cervantes.

Spanish (Borbón): variant of Bourbon.

Spanish (Velásquez): patronymic from the personal name Velasco.

English, Scottish, and Irish: generally a nickname referring to the color of the hair or complexion, Middle English br(o)un, from Old English brun or Old French brun. This word is occasionally found in Old English and Old Norse as a personal name or byname. Brun- was also a Germanic name-forming element. Some instances of Old English Brun as a personal name may therefore be short forms of compound names such as Brungar, Brunwine, etc. As a Scottish and Irish name, it sometimes represents a translation of Gaelic Donn. As an American family name, it has absorbed numerous surnames from other languages with the same meaning.

Spanish (Nájera): habitational name from Najera, a city in Logroño province.

Spanish (Enríquez): patronymic from Enrique.

Spanish: habitational name from Cisneros, a place in the province of Palencia, named with a derivative of Spanish cisne ‘swan’ (via Old French and Latin from Greek kyknos).

Variant (Chévez) of Chavez.

Spanish: habitational name from Bustamante in Santander province, so named with Late Latin bustum Amantii ‘pasture (see Busto) of Amantius’, a personal name derived from Late Latin Amans, genitive Amantis, meaning ‘loving’.

Spanish: variant of Huerta, from the plural form, found in numerous place names.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Soria province.

Spanish: habitational name meaning ‘(inhabitant) of Valencia’.

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of the places in the provinces of Barcelona, Cuenca, and Burgos named Pineda, from Spanish and Catalan pineda ‘pine forest’. in some instances possibly Asturian-Leonese Piñeda, from a town called Piñeda in Asturies.

Spanish: metonymic occupational name for a cobbler or shoemaker, from zapato ‘half boot’. Spanish and Galician: possibly also a habitational name from the places in Pontevedra and Ávila called Zapata.

Spanish (Ávalos): habitational name from Ábalos, a place near Haro in Soria province, on the edge of the Basque country. A Basque origin of the place name has been suggested, involving the stem abar- ‘kermes oak’, but this is highly conjectural.

Spanish: metonymic occupational name for a burner or seller of lime, from calero ‘lime’. Lime (calcium carbonate) is a product of some historical importance, obtained from limestone by heating or ‘burning’. It has various agricultural, domestic, and industrial applications, including fertilizing soil, treating furniture, bleaching, and making mortar.

Spanish (also Póveda): habitational name from any of the places called Poveda, in the provinces of Cuenca, Ávila, Salamanca, and Soria, or from Póveda de la Sierra in Guadalajara.

habitational name from any of the numerous places named Villanueva, from Spanish villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + nueva (feminine) ‘new’ (Latin nova). Castilianized spelling of Catalan and Galician Vilanova, a habitational name from a frequent place name, of the same derivation as 1 above.

Spanish: habitational name from Noguera, a town in Teruel, probably from Catalan noguera ‘walnut tree’ (Latin nucarius). Catalan: topographic name for someone who lived by any of the rivers called Noguera, in northern Catalonia.

Basque: habitational name from Zarate, a place in Araba province, named from Basque zara ‘thicket’.

Spanish: habitational name from Villafuerte, a place in Valladolid province, most probably named from villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + the personal name Fuertes (rather than the adjective fuerte ‘strong’).

Spanish (Jirón): variant of the habitational name Girón (see Giron).

Spanish: habitational name from Carpio in Valladolid province or any of various places in southern Spain named with this word (a regional term meaning ‘hill’), as for example Carpio-Bernardo or El Carpio. Italian (Naples): from the personal name Carpio, a short form of Eucarpio.

Asturian-Leonese (Avilés): habitational name from Avilés, a place in Asturies on the coast west of Xixón (Gijón in Spanish). The place name is derived either from a pre-Roman cognomen, Abilus, or from the Latin name Abilius, from the place name formed with (Villa) Abilius + the suffix -ensis. Spanish: possibly also habitational name for someone from Ávila (see Avila).

Asturian-Leonese and Spanish: habitational name from the ancient city of Astorga in León province, named in Latin Asturica.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Santoña in Santander province, whose name derives from escala ‘ladder’ (Latin scala), referring to a terraced slope.

Galician and Portuguese: nickname for a witty person, from salgado ‘salty’, figuratively ‘witty’, ‘piquant’ (from Late Latin salicatus, past participle of salicare ‘to give salt to’).

Catalan (València) and Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called València or Valencia, principally the major city in eastern Spain, which was formerly the capital of an independent Moorish kingdom of the same name, until it was reconquered in 1239 by James I, king of the Catalan dynasty, and became part of the Crown of Aragon together with the Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon. The city was apparently named from an honorary title derived from Latin valens ‘brave’.

English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smitan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

Galician: Castilianized spelling of Valadares, a habitational name from various places in Galicia, so named from a derivative of valado ‘boundary wall’, ‘ditch’ (from Latin vallus, vallum ‘fence’, ‘barrier’, ‘bastion’).

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, from Portuguese and Galician rocha ‘rock’, ‘cliff’.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Soria province, named Aguilera from aguilera ‘eagle’s nest’ (from Latin aquilaria ‘place of eagles’).

Catalan (Rubí): habitational name from Rubí in El Vallès, Catalonia, named with Latin rubeus ‘red’. Spanish (Rubí): habitational name from Rubí de Bracamonte in Valladolid province. Spanish (Rubí): in some cases possibly from rubi ‘ruby’. German: variant of Rubin 2.

Northern Irish: reduced form of McCartan.

Spanish and Italian: habitational name from any of the many places named with valle ‘valley’, or topographic name for someone who lived in a valley (Latin vallis). Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads so named, from Old Norse vollr ‘field’, ‘meadow’.

habitational name from places in Huelva and Valladolid named Trigueros, from a derivative of trigo ‘wheat’, or possibly triguero ‘corn merchant’. nickname from triguero ‘dark blond’, ‘corn colored’.

Found in Aragon. Derived from Greek word meaning to baptize. Also found in Baptista (see) and nickname is "Titta." Name in honor of John the Baptist.

French: from a medieval personal name (Latin Victor meaning ‘conqueror’, an agent derivative of vincere ‘to win’). Early Christians often bore this name in reference to Christ’s victory over sin and death, and there are a large number of saints so called. Some of the principal ones, who contributed to the popularity of the personal name in the Middle Ages, are a 2nd-century pope, a 3rd-century Mauritanian martyr, and a 5th-century bishop of Cologne.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived on a street corner, cantillo, or, in Navarre, by irrigated land, the term being used there to denote a ridge dividing a field for the purposes of irrigation.

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Santana, an assimilated form of Santa Ana.

Variant spelling of Spanish Venegas.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of this name, the capital of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain. The city is extremely ancient, having reputedly been founded by the Phoenicians. The origin of the name is obscure, presumably Phoenician. It is first recorded in the Latin form Hispalis, which was adopted in Arabic as Isbilia, and thence into early Spanish as Sibilia, now Sevilla.

Spanish: occupational name from lacayo ‘foot soldier’ or ‘lackey’.

Spanish: occupational name from caballero ‘knight’, ‘soldier’, ‘horseman’ (from Late Latin caballarius ‘mounted soldier’).

Basque: habitational name from any of several places in the Basque Country named Ibarra, from ibar ‘meadow’ + the definite article -a.

Spanish (Vílchez): variant of Vilches.

This family had, for a very long time, houses in the town of Espinosa de los Monteros; in the province of Burgos, as well as in Salamanca, Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) and Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz).

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places named Olivares, from the plural of Spanish olivar ‘olive grove’. Compare Oliveira. The Spanish surname spread into Italy, becoming widespread in Milan and the Naples region.

Spanish (Castellón): Castilianized form of Catalan Castelló, a habitational name from any of the places so named. This Castilianized form is notably applied to Castelló de la Plana, a town in Valencia, where the Castilianization process of Catalan is remarkable (see Castelló).

habitational name from Salguero in Burgos province, or a Castilianized form of the Galician habitational name Salgueiro, from any of numerous places so named from salguero meaning either ‘willow tree’ or ‘place in which animals are given salt’ (from salgar ‘to salt’). possibly from a homonymous archaic term denoting a spot where salt was given to cattle (Late Latin salicarium, a derivative of salicare ‘to give salt to’, from sal ‘salt’).

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname or topographic name from the adjective montano ‘from the mountains’. Italian: topographic name from Italian montano ‘mountain’, or a habitational name from a place called Montano, in particular Montano Antilia in Salerno province, or the district of Caianello in Caserta so named. Italian: from the personal name Montano, from Latin montanus ‘mountain dweller’.

Basque: habitational name from any of several places in the Basque provinces named Ugarte. The first element of place name, ug-, means ‘river’, ‘water’.

nickname for an old man or someone with prematurely white hair, from cano ‘white or gray haired’, ‘old’, ‘worthy’ (Latin canus). habitational name from a place in Spain called Caño or Cano in Portugal, both named with a derivative of Latin canna ‘reed’.

Spanish (Bolívar): Castilianized form of Basque Bolibar, a habitational name from any of several places named Bolibar, for example in Biscay province, from Basque bolu ‘mill’ (Latin molinum) + ibar ‘meadow’, ‘riverbank’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Portilla, from a diminutive of porta ‘gate’.

Spanish and French: from the medieval personal name Ponce, ultimately from Pontius, a Roman family name of uncertain origin, perhaps an ethnic name for someone from Pontus (named with Greek pontos ‘ocean’) in Asia Minor, or an Italic cognate of Latin Quintus ‘fifth’ (i.e. ‘fifth-born’). The name was borne by two 3rd-century saints, a Carthaginian deacon and a martyr of Nice, but was not widely popular in the Middle Ages because of the inhibiting influence of the even more famous Pontius Pilate. In some cases, though, the surname may have been originally used for someone who had played the part of this character in a religious play.

Spanish: variant of Galician Quinteiro, a habitational name from Quintero in Ourense province, Galicia, so named from quinteiro ‘farmstead’.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived in a place overgrown with broom, from a collective form of escoba ‘broom’ (Late Latin scopa), or a habitational name from any of the various places named with this word: for example, Escobar de Campos (León), Escobar de Polendos (Segovia), and three minor places in Murcia.

Spanish: nickname from chamorro ‘shaven head’, used especially to denote a boy or Portuguese man.

Spanish and Portuguese: from Spanish and Portuguese machado ‘hatchet’ (a derivative of Macho 2), probably a nickname, but possibly also a habitational name, as this word is also a common element of place names.

Basque: topographic name from aran ‘valley’ + the Basque definite article -a. The name in the U.S. may have absorbed some instances of Araña, from Spanish araña ‘spider’, a nickname for a weaver or for an industrious or opportunistic person.

Asturian-Leonese and Spanish: plural form of Spanish and Asturian-Leonese Nava (see also Naves). In some cases possibly Catalan (Navàs): variant spelling of Navars, habitational name from a place so called in Barcelona province, from a regional name denoting someone from Navarre (see Navarra) In some cases possibly French: variant (old form) of Naves.

variant of Rolando. habitational name from either of two towns named Roldán, in Murcia province.

Chinese : Cantonese variant of Chen. Chinese : variant transcription of Zhan. Vietnamese (Chân): unexplained. Galician and Portuguese: topographic name from a field named Chan (Galician) or Chã (Portuguese), from Latin plana ‘level’, ‘flat’.

Spanish: habitational name from Burgos, the capital of old Castile.

Spanish (Blandón): Andalusian (Huelva, Sevilla), from blandón ‘wax torch’.

German: variant of Stiller.

Spanish (Alcázar): habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Ciudad Real, Cuenca, and Granada, named with the word alcázar ‘citadel’ or ‘palace’ (from Arabic al ‘the’ + qa?sr ‘fortress’, a borrowing of Latin castrum; compare Castro).

Spanish: unexplained.

English (also very common in Wales): patronymic from William.

Spanish (Mondragón): habitational name from Basque Mondragoe (‘dragon mountain’), a place in Gipuzkoa province. French: habitational name from Montdragon in Tarn.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a tailor, from Old French tailleur (Late Latin taliator, from taliare ‘to cut’). The surname is extremely common in Britain and Ireland, and its numbers have been swelled by its adoption as an Americanized form of the numerous equivalent European names, most of which are also very common among Ashkenazic Jews, for example Schneider, Szabó, and Portnov.

"Gallus," the latin word signifies "rooster."Ancient surname from Galicia, but also found in Asturias, Castile, Burgos, Andalusia and Valencia. Derived from latin "galleus" - a cock, rooster, or male fowl.In addition to meaning rooster, this word also means a strong type of pasture.

Spanish form (Páez) of Portuguese and Galician Pais.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for a belligerent person or for a soldier, from guerra ‘war’. In some cases the Italian name may represent a short form of various compound personal names containing this element, for example Vinciguèrra. The Iberian name may in some cases reflect a misinterpretation of the Basque base ezquerra, esquerra, from esker ‘left-handed’. Basque: Castilianized form of Basque Gerra, a topographic name for someone who lived in a break or depression in a range of hills, from Basque gerri ‘waist’.

Galician (Nóvoa): habitational name from the former Galician juridical district Terra de Nóvoa, in Ourense province.

Asturian-Leonese: probably a habitational name from a place in Asturies called Cuadra.

English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, and South Indian: from the medieval personal name, of Biblical origin, from Aramaic t’om’a, a byname meaning ‘twin’. It was borne by one of the disciples of Christ, best known for his scepticism about Christ’s resurrection (John 20:24–29). The th- spelling is organic, the initial letter of the name in the Greek New Testament being a theta. The English pronunciation as t rather than th- is the result of French influence from an early date. In Britain the surname is widely distributed throughout the country, but especially common in Wales and Cornwall. The Ukrainian form is Choma. It is found as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. is used as a family name among families from southern India.

habitational name from any of numerous places named La Concepción. from the Marian female personal name (from Late Latin conceptio, genitive conceptionis ‘conception’), alluding to the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary.

Galician: habitational name from Lazo in A Coruña province. Spanish: nickname from Spanish lazo ‘hair ribbon’, ‘shoe lace’.

Spanish: habitational name from the city so named.

Spanish and Catalan: topographic name for someone who lived near a gate or fence, from Spanish and Catalan barrera ‘barrier’. topographic name for someone who lived by a clay pit, Spanish barrera, barrero (a derivative of barro ‘mud’, ‘clay’).

This could be onomatopoeic Spanish for the sound "tap."Found in Asturias. Name of villages near Leon and Oviedo. Derived from word "toppa" meaning a wall made from mud.Basque word meaning a place of the cranberries.Castilian name.

Catalan and Italian: topographic name from Latin casa ‘house’ + nova ‘new’, or a habitational name from any of the many places named with these words.

Spanish (Narváez): habitational name from a place so called near Almagro, in Ciudad Real province.

Spanish: topographic name from Spanish collado ‘hill’, ‘mountain pass’, from Late Latin collatum, a derivative of Latin collis ‘hill’.

Spanish (Salmerón): habitational name from Salmerón in Guadalajara province, possibly also the one in Murcia.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from the personal name Will, a very common medieval short form of William.

Galician: habitational name from Godoy, a place in Galicia. The origin of the place name is uncertain, but a connection has been suggested with the Gothic elements gu{dh}s ‘god’ + wihs ‘saint’.

Italian: variant of Marengo. This name is also found in El Salvador.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Salinas, from the plural of salina ‘saltworks’ (Latin salinae, a derivative of sal ‘salt’).

English (but most common in Wales): from Lowis, Lodovicus, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements hlod ‘fame’ + wig ‘war’. This was the name of the founder of the Frankish dynasty, recorded in Latin chronicles as Ludovicus and Chlodovechus (the latter form becoming Old French Clovis, Clouis, Louis, the former developing into German Ludwig). The name was popular throughout France in the Middle Ages and was introduced to England by the Normans. In Wales it became inextricably confused with 2. Welsh: from an Anglicized form of the personal name Llywelyn (see Llewellyn). Irish and Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lughaidh ‘son of Lughaidh’. This is one of the most common Old Irish personal names. It is derived from Lugh ‘brightness’, which was the name of a Celtic god. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames.

probably a variant spelling of Spanish Lazcano, a habitational name from Basque Lazkao, a town in Gipuzkoa province.

Chinese : from a character meaning ‘minister’. This was part of the title of Gao Yao, a great-grandson of the legendary emperor Zhuan Xu, who became famous as a minister under the model emperors Yao and Shun in the 23rd century bc; he was the first to introduce laws for the repression of crime. His descendants adopted this part of his title as their surname. The use of this name continued for over a millennium to the twelfth century bc, down to the rule of the last king of the Shang dynasty, the despotic Zhou Xin. Li Zhi, the head of the Li clan at that time, displeased Zhou Xin and was executed, leaving the rest of the clan facing imminent disaster. They fled, and nearly starved to death, surviving only by eating a fruit called mu zi. When the characters for mu and zi are combined, they form the character for plum, pronounced Li. In token of this salvation, the clan changed their name to the current character for li ‘plum’. Li is now the most common surname in China. Among the many famous bearers are Lee Kwan Yew, prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990; Lee Teng-hui, president of Taiwan from 1988; Li Peng, prime minister of China from 1988; and Bruce Lee (1941–73), movie actor. Chinese : from the name of a state of Li (in present-day Shanxi province), which existed during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc). Descendants of the state’s rulers adopted the name of the state as their surname. Chinese : this character for Li is an altered form of 1 above. Norwegian: habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads named Li, from Old Norse hlíð ‘mountain slope’, ‘hillside’.

Chinese: variant of Wang. Chinese: variant of Huang.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, in northern France as well as in England. These are named with the Old French elements riche ‘rich’, ‘splendid’ + mont ‘hill’. Richmond in North Yorkshire was named after a Richmont in France immediately after the Norman Conquest, and in many if not most cases the English surname can de derived from this place. Richmond in southwest London received this name only in the reign of Henry VII, in honor of the king, who had been Earl of Richmond until he came to the throne, and is unlikely to be the source of this surname.

Spanish (Domínguez): patronymic from the personal name Domingo.

Galician and Portuguese: habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia and Portugal named Andrade, perhaps originally villa Andr(e)ati ‘estate of a man named Andreas’.

English and (especially) Scottish (of Norman origin), and French: nickname from Anglo-Norman French graund, graunt ‘tall’, ‘large’ (Old French grand, grant, from Latin grandis), given either to a person of remarkable size, or else in a relative way to distinguish two bearers of the same personal name, often representatives of different generations within the same family. English and Scottish: from a medieval personal name, probably a survival into Middle English of the Old English byname Granta (see Grantham). Probably a respelling of German Grandt or Grand.

Spanish: habitational name from Rueda in Valladolid, Rueda denJalón in Zamora, Rueda de la Sierra in Guadalajara, or any of thenplaces called La Rueda, from Castilian rueda ‘wheel’, Latinnrota. Compare Catalan Roda. DK, kh

from a personal name, byname, or nickname, dos Santos (from Spanish Todos los Santos ‘All Saints’, Portuguese Todos os santos), typically bestowed on a child born on All Saints’ Day. in many cases, a habitational name from any of the places named Santos, from the dedication of a local church or shrine to all the saints. This is a very common Portuguese surname.

Spanish, Catalan, Asturian-Leonese, and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places, large and small, named Quintana, from quintana ‘country house’ (originally having a tax liability of one fifth of the annual produce). variant of French Quintaine, from an Old French term denoting a post for jousting practice, hence a nickname for one who was skilled at this.

Spanish (Canary Islands) and Portuguese: from Béthencourt (see Bettencourt), the name (with many variants) of the first conqueror of the Canary Islands (1417), a knight of Norman-French origin. This name is also common and widespread in Latin America.

Spanish (Chávez): variant spelling of Chaves.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called Quintanilla, from a diminutive of quintana ‘country house’ (see Quintana).

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived in a place that was infested with flies or mosquitos, from a derivative of mosca ‘fly’ (see Mosca). Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Mosquera in Catalonia, Valencia and Andorra.

Gallardo is a word originally used after a name to distinguish between others of the same name which eventually developed into a surname. It means "elegant, graceful."Refers to someone who is full of life and valiant and probably comes from the latin "galleus" which has a similar meaning.

Basque: variant spelling of Zelaia, a habitational name in Biscay province, Basque Country, from Basque zelai ‘field’, ‘meadow’ + the definite article -a.

Welsh: from the Old Welsh personal name Morcant, which is of uncertain but ancient etymology. Irish: importation of the Welsh surname, to which has been assimilated more than one Gaelic surname, notably Ó Muireagáin (see Merrigan). Scottish: of uncertain origin; probably from a Gaelic personal name cognate with Welsh Morcant.

Southern Portuguese and Latin American: variant of Spanish Zamudio, a habitational name from Zamudio in Biscay province.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from the personal name Wat (see Watt)

Spanish and Catalan: habitational name from any of various places called Alcocer, for example in the provinces of Guadalajara and Alacant, from Arabic al ‘the’ + qu?ssayr ‘small palace’, a diminutive of qa?sr ‘citadel’ (see Alcazar).

Spanish: probably a variant of Rengel. This name is also found in Portugal.

Scottish: nickname from Gaelic cam ‘crooked’, ‘bent’ + beul ‘mouth’. The surname was often represented in Latin documents as de bello campo ‘of the fair field’, which led to the name sometimes being ‘translated’ into Anglo-Norman French as Beauchamp. In New England documents, Campbell sometimes occurs as a representation of the French name Hamel.

Spanish and Italian: from a personal name, in origin an ethnic name for a Frank, a member of the Germanic people who inhabited the lands around the river Rhine in Roman times. See also Frank. The personal name was popularized by the cult of San Franco di Assergi. Italian and Spanish: nickname or status name from franco ‘free’ (usually denoting a freed slave). Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Spanish surname.

Adjective from the latin "bellus" - beautiful.Found in Galicia, Orense, and Leon. Names of villages near Oviedo and Teruel. Derived from latin "bellus" - beautiful, perfect.Galician name found throughout the Peninsula.

Spanish form (Echeverría) of Basque Etxeberria (see Echevarria).

Basque: habitational name from Lezama in Araba province, Basque Country. It is well established in Peru and Venezuela.

English and Scottish: patronymic from the personal name John. As an American family name, Johnson has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places named Talavera, especially Talavera de la Reina in Toledo province.

Spanish: habitational name from Villavicencio de los Caballeros, a place in Valladolid province, named from villa ‘(outlying) farm’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + the personal name Vicencio.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of Manzanares in Ciudad Real province.

Portuguese and Spanish: from a personal name, bestowed especially on children born on or around the Feast of the Epiphany (6 January), Spanish Aparición, which celebrates the appearance of Christ to the Magi. The Spanish vocabulary word aparición means ‘appearance’ or ‘manifestation’. In Portugal and Spain, however, this is found as a forenames only, not a surname.

Catalan: variant of Montcada, a habitational name from any of the places so named in Valencia and Catalonia.

English, Dutch, North German, and Jewish (western Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Philip. In North America this name has also absorbed cognate names from other European languages, for example Italian Filippi, Polish Filipowicz.

Catalan: from Vives (Latin Vivas), a medieval personal name meaning ‘may you live’, bestowed on children for the sake of good omen.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places in Burgos, Lleón, and Santander named Vallejo, from a diminutive of valle ‘valley’.

English: patronymic from Thomas. Thompson is widely distributed throughout Britain, but is most common in northern England and northern Ireland. Americanized form of Thomsen.

English: ethnic name for someone with Scottish connections. Scottish and Irish: ethnic name for a Gaelic speaker.

Basque: Castilianized variant of Basque Zanbrana, a habitational name from the town called Zanbrana, in Araba province, Basque Country.

English: patronymic from Jenkin. Jenkins is one of the most common names in England, especially southwestern England, but is also especially associated with Wales.

Spanish (of Basque origin): variant of Mújica (see Mujica).

Spanish (Carrión): habitational name from a place of this name in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real, or from Carrión de los Céspedes in Seville, or Carrión de los Condes in Palencia.

Spanish and Portuguese: variant of Borges, or a habitational name from Borge in Málaga province. Danish and Norwegian: variant of Borg ‘fortification’, from the dative case, meaning ‘at the fortification’.

Spanish and Galician: habitational name from any of the places, mainly in Galicia, called Moscoso, named with an adjectival derivative of mosca ‘fly’, denoting a place where there were many flies.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from Jack 1. As an American surname this has absorbed other patronymics beginning with J- in various European languages.

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. Southern Italian: habitational name from a place named Carrera, cognate with 1.

nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Older Scots reid ‘red’. topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing, from Old English r¯d ‘woodland clearing’. Compare English Read.

English and Welsh: from the medieval personal name Elis, a vernacular form of Elijah (see Elias). In Wales this surname absorbed forms derived from the Welsh personal name Elisedd, a derivative of elus ‘kindly’, ‘benevolent’.

Spanish: habitational name, from the name of a mountain and an ancient city in the province of Burgos, probably derived from Basque amai ‘end’ + the article suffix -a. Japanese: usually written with characters meaning ‘heavenly valley’. It is pronounced Amaya or Amagai in eastern Japan and Amatani in western Japan.

English: topographic name for someone who lived near a meadow or a patch of arable land, Middle English lee, lea, from Old English lea, dative case (used after a preposition) of leah, which originally meant ‘wood’ or ‘glade’. English: habitational name from any of the many places named with Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘glade’, as for example Lee in Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, and Shropshire, and Lea in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Wiltshire. Irish: reduced Americanized form of Ó Laoidhigh ‘descendant of Laoidheach’, a personal name derived from laoidh ‘poem’, ‘song’ (originally a byname for a poet). Americanized spelling of Norwegian Li or Lie. Chinese : variant of Li 1. Chinese : variant of Li 2. Chinese : variant of Li 3. Korean: variant of Yi.

Spanish (Henríquez): variant of Enríquez (see Enriquez).

Spanish and Galician: from the plural of casar, casal ‘farm’, hence a topographic name, or a habitational name from any of numerous places called Casares or named with this word, especially in Galicia.

Catalan: variant spelling of Olives, habitational name from Olives in Girona province, or a topographic name from the plural of Oliva. Spanish: plural form of Oliva.

Catalan: Castilianized form of Vives.

Spanish and Portuguese (Lázaro): from the Biblical personal name Lazaro (see Lazar).

Southern English: patronymic from David.

Spanish (Téllez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Tellus, probably of Germanic origin.

Spanish (Góngora) from Basque: habitational name from Basque Gongora, a place in the Aranguren valley in Navarre, Basque Country.

Asturian-Leonese and Spanish (Valdés): habitational name from either of the two places called Valdés in Málaga and Asturies. Catalan (Valdès): nickname from Catalan valdès ‘Waldensian’, i.e. a member of a Puritan religious sect which was founded in the 12th century by Peter Valdes (died 1205) in southern France. The widespread distribution of the surname in present-day Spain, however, suggests that other sources may also have been involved.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: occupational name for a maker of machinery, mostly in wood, of any of a wide range of kinds, from Old English wyrhta, wryhta ‘craftsman’ (a derivative of wyrcan ‘to work or make’). The term is found in various combinations (for example, Cartwright and Wainwright), but when used in isolation it generally referred to a builder of windmills or watermills. Common New England Americanized form of French Le Droit, a nickname for an upright person, a man of probity, from Old French droit ‘right’, in which there has been confusion between the homophones right and wright.

Spanish: nickname for someone descended from a prominent elder in a community or one whose memory was respected, from Spanish nieto ‘grandson’ (Latin nepos, genitive nep(o)tis, ‘grandson’, ‘nephew’).

Chinese : from name of the region of Chen (in present-day Henan province). After overthrowing the Shang dynasty and becoming the first king of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, Wu Wang searched for a descendant of the great ancient emperors to guard their memory and offer sacrifices, to help retain the ‘Mandate of Heaven’, which was considered essential to remain in power. He found Gui Man, a descendant of the model emperor Shun (2257–2205 bc), and granted him the region of Chen, along with the title Marquis of Chen and one of his daughters in marriage. Gui Man was posthumously named Chen Hugong, and his descendants came to adopt the surname Chen.

French: occupational name for a worker in wood, from Old French charpentier (Late Latin carpentarius ‘cartwright’).

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, northern Italian, French, and English: from the personal name, a derivative of the Latin personal name Vitalis (see Vitale).

Basque: Castilianized form of Garai, a habitational name from Garai, in Biscay, Basque Country, or from one of the five other, smaller places of the same name, also in Biscay, all named from Basque garai ‘high’, a derivative of gara ‘height’, ‘peak’. Hungarian: habitational name for someone from a place called Gara.

From the latin "sarmentum" - vine shoots. The landmark of the area where the inhabitants were given this name. Place name in Argentina.Galician name descended from knight Salvador González, Count of Bureba.

Hispanic: unexplained.

Basque: topographic name from Basque aburto ‘place of kermes oaks’, from abur ‘kermes oak’ + the locative suffix -lo.

Scottish: habitational name from a place in Berwickshire (Borders), named with Welsh gor ‘spacious’ + din ‘fort’. English (of Norman origin) and French: habitational name from Gourdon in Saône-et-Loire, so called from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gordus + the locative suffix -o, -onis. Irish: adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Mag Mhuirneacháin, a patronymic from the personal name Muirneachán, a diminutive of muirneach ‘beloved’. Jewish (from Lithuania): probably a habitational name from the Belorussian city of Grodno. It goes back at least to 1657. Various suggestions, more or less fanciful, have been put forward as to its origin. There is a family tradition among some bearers that they are descended from a son of a Duke of Gordon, who converted to Judaism in the 18th century, but the Jewish surname was in existence long before the 18th century; others claim descent from earlier Scottish converts, but this is implausible. Spanish and Galician Gordón, and Basque: habitational name from a place called Gordon (Basque) or Gordón (Spanish, Galician), of which there are examples in Salamanca, Galicia, and Basque Country. Spanish: possibly in some instances from an augmentative of the nickname Gordo (see Gordillo).

English and Scottish: from a Celtic personal name of great antiquity and obscurity. In England the personal name is now usually spelled Alan, the surname Allen; in Scotland the surname is more often Allan. Various suggestions have been put forward regarding its origin; the most plausible is that it originally meant ‘little rock’. Compare Gaelic ailín, diminutive of ail ‘rock’. The present-day frequency of the surname Allen in England and Ireland is partly accounted for by the popularity of the personal name among Breton followers of William the Conqueror, by whom it was imported first to Britain and then to Ireland. St. Alan(us) was a 5th-century bishop of Quimper, who was a cult figure in medieval Brittany. Another St. Al(l)an was a Cornish or Breton saint of the 6th century, to whom a church in Cornwall is dedicated.

Italian: most likely from uva ‘grapes’. Compare D’Uva.

Spanish: habitational name from Montealegre in Vallodolid province or Montealegre del Castilo in Albacete, so named from monte ‘mountain’ + alegre ‘happy’, ‘joyful’.

Castilianized form of Basque Zuhatzu, habitational name from places in Araba and Navarre named Zuhatzu, from Basque zu(h)aitz ‘tree’ + the collective suffix -zu, tsu.

Chinese : variant of Zhang 1. Chinese : The emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc) had two advisers whose names contained this character; descendants of both of them are believed to have adopted Chang as their surname. Additionally, in the state of Wei during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc) there existed a fief named Chang, the name of which was adopted by descendants of its ruling class. The Chinese character also has the meanings ‘often’ and ‘ordinary’. Chinese : variant of Zhang 2. Chinese : a rare name whose Chinese character also means ‘prosperous, flourishing’. This name is said to have originated 4500 years ago with Chang Yi, son of the legendary emperor Huang Di and father of emperor Zhuan Xu. Korean: there are 33 Chang clans in Korea, all but three of which use the same Chinese character for their surname. All of the Korean Chang clans had their origins in China, and, apart from the T{ou}ksu Chang clan and the Ch{ou}lgang Chang clan, they all originated from a single founding ancestor, Chang Ch{ou}n-p’il. He was born in China in 888 ad and fled to Korea with his father during a tumultuous period of Chinese history. The T{ou}ksu Chang clan’s founding ancestor, Chang Sul-long, stayed in Korea, having escorted Kory{ou} King Ch’ungy{ou}l’s queen-to-be from China to Korea in 1275. Most of the founding ancestors of the other Chang clans arrived in Korea from Y{uu}an China during the Kory{ou} period (ad 918–1392) or during the early Chos{ou}n period.

Spanish (of Basque origin; Munguía): Castilianized form of the Basque habitational name Mungia, from a place in Biscay province.

Spanish (of Basque origin): Castilinanized form of the Basque topographic name Murua, from muru ‘crag’ + the definite article -a

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called Linares, as for example in the provinces of Jaén, Seville, Salamanca, Cantabria, Burgos, and Soria, from the plural of linar ‘flax field’ (Latin linare, a derivative of linum ‘flax’). Asturian-Leonese and Aragonese: Castilianized form of Asturian-Leonese Llinares (also L.linares), or Aragonese Linars, habitational names from the towns in Aragon named with the word linars ‘flax fields’. Spanish (Liñares): occupational name for a linen merchant, Latin linarius.

Hispanic (Nicaragua): apparently a variant of Spanish Robledo.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): nickname from pinto ‘colorful’, ‘painted’. Spanish: habitational name from Pinto in Madrid. Catalan (Pintó): Catalan variant of Pintor ‘painter’. Portuguese: from a nickname from pinto ‘chick’. This name is also common in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists. Italian: from pinto ‘mottled’, ‘dotted’ (Late Latin pinctus, for classical Latin pictus ‘painted’), hence a nickname for a person with a blotchy or pock-marked complexion or pepper-and-salt hair, or in some parts of the south at least from the same word in the sense ‘lively or restless person’.

Scottish and northern English: very common patronymic from the personal name Ander(s), a northern Middle English form of Andrew. See also Andreas. The frequency of the surname in Scotland is attributable, at least in part, to the fact that St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, so the personal name has long enjoyed great popularity there. Legend has it that the saint’s relics were taken to Scotland in the 4th century by a certain St. Regulus. The surname was brought independently to North America by many different bearers and was particularly common among 18th-century Scotch-Irish settlers in PA and VA. In the United States, it has absorbed many cognate or like-sounding names in other European languages, notably Swedish Andersson, Norwegian and Danish Andersen, but also Ukrainian Andreychyn, Hungarian Andrásfi, etc.

Spanish (Alegría) and Portuguese: nickname from Spanish alegría or Portuguese alegria ‘joy’, ‘happiness’. Castilianized form of Basque Alegia, a habitational name from any of the towns named Alegia in the Basque Country.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Robin.

English (Cornwall): unexplained. Chinese : Cantonese variant of Cheng 2. Chinese : variant of Jing 1. Chinese : variant of Jing 2. Chinese : variant of Jing 3. Chinese : variant of Jing 4.

Hispanic (mainly El Salvador): habitational name from Ardón in León province, Spain. Dutch: probably from a variant of the personal name Hardewijn, French Ardouin, composed of the Germanic elements hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’ + win ‘friend’.

English (also common in Wales): patronymic from Edward.

English and Welsh: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Jon(e) (see John). The surname is especially common in Wales and southern central England. In North America this name has absorbed various cognate and like-sounding surnames from other languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

Spanish (Gámez): patronymic from Gamo, a personal name of unexplained origin.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived by a dogwood tree, Spanish cornejo (Latin corniculus), or a habitational name from any of the various minor places named Cornejo, for example in the provinces of Almería, Burgos, and Ciudad Real.

English, Scottish, Irish, German, and Scandinavian: from Middle English hall (Old English heall), Middle High German halle, Old Norse holl all meaning ‘hall’ (a spacious residence), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a hall or an occupational name for a servant employed at a hall. In some cases it may be a habitational name from places named with this word, which in some parts of Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages also denoted a salt mine. The English name has been established in Ireland since the Middle Ages, and, according to MacLysaght, has become numerous in Ulster since the 17th century.

Spanish: nickname for a dark-haired or dark-skinned man, from Old Spanish prieto ‘dark’, ‘black’. The adjective derives from the verb apretar ‘to squeeze or compress’, a metathesized form of apetrar, Late Latin appectorare ‘to hold close to the chest’ (from pectus, genitive pectoris, ‘chest’). The use as a color term seems to have derived originally from its application to rain clouds and fog.

English: from the personal name Francis (Old French form Franceis, Latin Franciscus, Italian Francisco). This was originally an ethnic name meaning ‘Frank’ and hence ‘Frenchman’. The personal name owed much of its popularity during the Middle Ages to the fame of St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), whose baptismal name was actually Giovanni but who was nicknamed Francisco because his father was absent in France at the time of his birth. As an American family name this has absorbed cognates from several other European languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988). Jewish (American): an Americanization of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames, or an adoption of the non-Jewish surname.

Spanish: habitational name from one of the places in A Coruña or Gran Canaria called Roque or from El Roque in Tenerife. Catalan (Roqué): from a variant of Roquer, habitational name from any of the places in Catalonia named Roquer or El Roquer, from a derivative of Catalan roca ‘rock’. Possibly an altered spelling of French Rocque, a Picard and southern form of Roche.

Spanish: variant spelling of Valdés (see Valdes).

Spanish (Báez): of uncertain derivation, but possibly a variant of Paez.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the Marian epithet paz ‘peace’ (Latin pax, genitive pacis): María de la Paz (Spanish), Maria da Paz (Portuguese). The name was often assumed, as an approximate translation of the Hebrew personal name Shelomo, by Jews converted to Christianity.

Spanish: habitational name or regional name for someone from the town or province of Biscay (Spanish Vizcaya) in the Basque Country. The place name derives from Basque bizkai ‘ridge’ + the definite article -a. Historically, the term was also used to denote a seafarer and in some cases this may be the meaning behind the surname.

Spanish: possibly a metonymic occupational name for a carrier, from the plural of flete ‘freight’.

Scottish: nickname from Gaelic bran ‘raven’. Galician: habitational name from either of two places in Lugo province called Bran. This is a common name in Mexico.

Spanish: habitational name from a place so called in Guadalajara province.

Spanish and Portuguese (common in Brazil): of uncertain origin; possibly a nickname meaning ‘sensible’, ‘reasonable’, from tino ‘reason’, ‘sense’, ‘intellect’.

Scottish: perhaps a variant of Shives or Chevis. Hispanic (Mexico): variant of Chavez.

Northern English: patronymic from the personal name Dick.

Spanish: nickname for someone with curly hair, from rizo ‘curl’.

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Iglesias (from the plural of iglesia ‘church’), in particular the one in Burgos province.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Santander province named Arredondo, from redondo ‘round’, because of the roundish shape of the hill on which it stands.

Basque: habitational name from any of the places named Arriola, from Basque arri ‘stone(s)’ + -ola ‘place of’, for example in the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Araba.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname for a philanderer, from amores (plural) ‘loves’ (see Amor).

Spanish: habitational name from either of two places in Badajoz province, probably so called from Latin villa Aureliana ‘estate of Aurelius’ (see Orell).

Galician: habitational name from any of the places in the Galician provinces of Ourense and Lugo named Saavedra, from saa ‘hall’ (from Gothic sals ‘main house’) + vedro ‘old’ (Latin vetus).

Spanish: possibly from correa ‘leather strap’, ‘belt’, ‘rein’, ‘shoelace’, plural correas (Latin corrigia ‘fastening’, from corrigere ‘to straighten’, ‘to correct’), applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of such articles.

Catalan (Guàrdia), Spanish, and Italian: from Catalan guàrdia, Spanish and Italian guardia ‘guard’, ‘watch’, a topographic name for someone who lived by a watch place, an occupational name for a member of the town guard, or a habitational name from any of the numerous places named (La) Guardia.

English (northern): patronymic from Hodge.

Spanish: variant spelling of Cepeda.

French and English: from the Old French personal name Maurice (see Morris).

Portuguese (Osório) and Spanish: from a medieval personal name Osorius, of uncertain origin. It is perhaps a metathesized form of Latin Orosius (Greek Orosios, a derivative of oros ‘mountain’), the name borne by a 4th-century Iberian theologian and historian, who was famous in Spain throughout the Middle Ages.

Spanish: from the personal name Alonso, a cognate of Alfonso.

Spanish: from mercado ‘market’, topographic name for someone living by a market or metonymic occupational name for a market trader.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a weaver, early Middle English webbe, from Old English webba (a primary derivative of wefan ‘to weave’; compare Weaver 1). This word survived into Middle English long enough to give rise to the surname, but was already obsolescent as an agent noun; hence the secondary forms with the agent suffixes -er and -ster. Americanized form of various Ashkenazic Jewish cognates, including Weber and Weberman.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc. Southwestern and Swiss German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Müller (see Mueller).

Spanish: probably variant of García (see Garcia).

Spanish: topographic name from Spanish Vallecillo, a diminutive of valle ‘valley’.

Italian: from a dialect or old form of Lancia. Italian: from a short form of a personal name formed with the suffix -lanza or -lancia, as for example Francalanza and Giallanza. Spanish: from lanza ‘lance’, either a nickname for a soldier (lancer) or occupational name for a lance maker.

English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak, Spanish (Martín), Italian (Venice), etc.: from a personal name (Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, genitive Martis, the Roman god of fertility and war, whose name may derive ultimately from a root mar ‘gleam’). This was borne by a famous 4th-century saint, Martin of Tours, and consequently became extremely popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. As a North American surname, this form has absorbed many cognates from other European forms. English: habitational name from any of several places so called, principally in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Worcestershire, named in Old English as ‘settlement by a lake’ (from mere or mær ‘pool’, ‘lake’ + tun ‘settlement’) or as ‘settlement by a boundary’ (from (ge)mære ‘boundary’ + tun ‘settlement’). The place name has been charged from Marton under the influence of the personal name Martin.

English and Scottish: patronymic from the medieval personal name Nel or Neal, Anglo-Scandinavian forms of the Gaelic name Niall (see Neill). This was adopted by the Scandinavians in the form Njal and was introduced into northern England and East Anglia by them, rather than being taken directly from Gaelic. Americanized spelling of the like-sounding Scandinavian names Nilsen, Nielsen, and Nilsson.

Asturian-Leonese and Galician: habitational name from any of various places in Asturies and Galicia named with granda ‘rocky plain’, ‘scrub-covered upland with poor soil’ (from pre-Roman gándara).

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Coinnich, patronymic from the personal name Coinneach meaning ‘comely’. Compare Menzies.

habitational name from any of the places named Salvatierra (literally ‘save land’). This is a widespread place name, denoting a place of strategic importance. Castilianized form of Galician Salvaterra or Aragonese Salbatierra, habitational names from places in Galicia and Aragon.

Spanish: nickname for a strong or tough man, from recio ‘strong’, ‘robust’, ‘tough’. Possibly Portuguese (Récio): possibly from the obsolete term récio ‘strong’, ‘robust’, ‘tough’, rather than from the personal name Récio.

Spanish and Portuguese: from cerda ‘bristle’, ‘hair’ (Late Latin cirra), apparently a nickname for someone with a prominent tuft of hair. One of the sons of King Alfonso X (1221–84) was known as Fernando de la Cerda. Catalan (Cerdà): regional name, cerdà, for someone from La Cerdanya, a Catalan district in the Pyrenees which is currently situated partly in Spain and partly in France.

English (especially Yorkshire) and Scottish: occupational name for a fuller, Middle English walkere, Old English wealcere, an agent derivative of wealcan ‘to walk, tread’. This was the regular term for the occupation during the Middle Ages in western and northern England. Compare Fuller and Tucker. As a Scottish surname it has also been used as a translation of Gaelic Mac an Fhucadair ‘son of the fuller’.

Scottish: habitational name from a place near Aberdeen, so named from Gaelic forba ‘field’, ‘district’ + the locative suffix -ais. The place name is pronounced in two syllables, with the stress on the second, and the surname until recently reflected this. Today, however, it is generally a monosyllable. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Firbhisigh ‘son of Fearbhisigh’, a personal name composed of Celtic elements meaning ‘man’ + ‘prosperity’. A family of this name in Connacht was famous for its traditional historians, compilers of the Book of Lecan.

Scottish: originally an occupational name for an administrative official of an estate, from Middle English stiward, Old English stigweard, stiweard, a compound of stig ‘house(hold)’ + weard ‘guardian’. In Old English times this title was used of an officer controlling the domestic affairs of a household, especially of the royal household; after the Conquest it was also used more widely as the native equivalent of Seneschal for the steward of a manor or manager of an estate.

in Spain, a widespread family name of uncertain derivation. in Chile, a habitational name from Valdivia in Chile. in Ecuador, a nickname from valdivia ‘bird of prey’.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Bryan.' The 'i' in Briant and Bryant is of course excrescent. Bryan was not an importation from Ireland, though its popularity as an English fontname is gone. It lingered in North Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Furness till the close of the last century.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of Salamanca in western Spain, which is of pre-Roman foundation and obscure etymology. During the Middle Ages it was one of the leading cultural centers of Europe, and the surname may in some cases have been been a respectful nickname for someone who had visited the city.

Spanish and southern French (Occitan): from Spanish and Old French rey ‘king’ (from Latin rex, genitive regis), which could have been applied any of in numerous ways: it may have denoted someone in the service of a king; it may have been from the title of someone in a brotherhood; or a nickname for someone who behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in some contest of skill or by presiding over festivities. English: variant spelling of Ray 1, cognate with 1. German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name formed with ragin ‘counsel’. German: nickname for a leader of dancing or singing, from Middle Low German rei(e) ‘(line) dance’, ‘(satirical) song’.

Spanish: habitational name from Escamilla, a place in Guadalajara province.

English: reduced form of Forster. English: nickname from Middle English foster ‘foster parent’ (Old English fostre, a derivative of fostrian ‘to nourish or rear’). Jewish: probably an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames, such as Forster.

Spanish: habitational name from Quijano in Cantabria province.

Spanish: habitational name from Larios in the province of Cádiz or Larios y San Gil in Cáceres province.

Galician (Cantón): habitational name from places in Lugo and Pontevedra provinces, in Galicia, named Cantón, from a derivative of canto ‘corner’ (see Canto). Southern French: topographic name, from Occitan canton ‘corner’, ‘angle’, denoting someone who lived on a street corner.

Spanish (Pavón): nickname for a proud, vain, or showy man, from pavón ‘peacock’. Italian: northern variant of Pavone.

Portuguese (Teles): patronymic from the medieval personal name Tellus, probably of Germanic origin.

Spanish: habitational name from the city so named in Cáceres province, called in Latin Turgalium, which is probably of Arabic origin. This place was the home of various conquistadors, hence its great frequency in the Americas.

Spanish (Velázquez): variant of Velasquez.

Spanish: nickname for an elegant or haughty person, from lozano ‘splendid’, later ‘good-looking’.

Chinese : from the name of the ancient state of Wu in what is now Jiangsu province. In the 13th century bc, the state of Zhou was ruled by Tai Wang, who had three sons: Tai Bo, Zhong Yong, and Ji Li. The eldest sons, Tai Bo and Zhong Yong, believing that their father wished the youngest son, Ji Li, to inherit the reins of power, left the Zhou homeland with a group of followers and traveled southeastward to east-central China, where they established the state of Wu. Their descendants eventually adopted Wu as their surname. Ji Li stayed on to rule the Zhou and became the father of the famed virtuous duke Wu Wang, to whom those named Zhou (see Chow) trace their ancestry. Thus, the surnames Wu and Zhou are traced to the same ancestor, Tai Wang. Chinese : Cantonese variant of Hu. Chinese : from the name of Ji Wu, a son of Ping Wang (770–719 bc), the first king of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. His descendants adopted the given name Wu as their surname. Chinese : from the name of Wu Can, an official of the state of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). At one time, the states of Chu and Jin were at war. The general of Chu viewed the strong position of the Jin and recommended retreat. However, a minor official, Wu Can, performed an analysis of the situation which concluded that an attack would be better. The prince of Chu agreed with Wu Can, which resulted in a victory over the Jin. Wu Can then became a senior official and used part of his given name, Wu, as his new surname. Chinese : from the name of Wu Peng, doctor of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc).

Basque: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Mendieta, from mendi ‘mountain’ + the plural suffix -eta.

Spanish (Márquez): patronymic from the personal name Marcos.

Variant of Spanish Barrios.

English and Jewish: patronymic from Samuel.

English, Scottish, and Irish: from Middle English whit ‘white’, hence a nickname for someone with white hair or an unnaturally pale complexion. In some cases it represents a Middle English personal name, from an Old English byname, Hwit(a), of this origin. As a Scottish and Irish surname it has been widely used as a translation of the many Gaelic names based on bán ‘white’ (see Bain 1) or fionn ‘fair’ (see Finn 1). There has also been some confusion with Wight. Translated form of cognate and equivalent names in other languages, such as German Weiss, French Blanc, Polish Bialas (see Bialas), etc.

Catalan: habitational name for someone from a place in Barcelona province named Cardona. Its name dates from the pre-Roman period but the meaning is unknown.

English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindrich, etc.). As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInnéirghe ‘descendant of Innéirghe’, a byname based on éirghe ‘arising’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Éinrí or Mac Einri, patronymics from the personal names Éinrí, Einri, Irish forms of Henry. It is also found as a variant of McEnery. Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Simon,' from the nick. Sim, whence Simpson, with intrusive 'p', as in Thompson, Hampson, &c. Sims or Simms is the genitive of Sim; compare William and Williams.Robertus Symmes, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

English: variant spelling of Clark.

English: from Old French and Middle English frere ‘friar’ (Latin frater, literally ‘brother’). This was a status name for a member a religious order, especially a mendicant order, and may also have been a nickname for a pious person or for someone employed at a monastery. Americanized spelling of French Frère (see Frere). North German and Dutch: cognate of Friedrich.

Spanish and Galician: nickname for a tough, hard-headed individual, from cerna ‘heartwood’. Hungarian (Cérna): from the cérna ‘thread’, hence an metonymic occupational name for a tailor. Czech and Slovak (Cerna): nickname from the feminine form of Czech cerný , Slovak cierny ‘black’, ‘dark’.

English: occupational name for a scribe or secretary, originally a member of a minor religious order who undertook such duties. The word clerc denoted a member of a religious order, from Old English cler(e)c ‘priest’, reinforced by Old French clerc. Both are from Late Latin clericus, from Greek klerikos, a derivative of kleros ‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’, with reference to the priestly tribe of Levites (see Levy) ‘whose inheritance was the Lord’. In medieval Christian Europe, clergy in minor orders were permitted to marry and so found families; thus the surname could become established. In the Middle Ages it was virtually only members of religious orders who learned to read and write, so that the term clerk came to denote any literate man.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Olmos, from the plural of olmo ‘elm’.

English: from a personal name that has the same origin as Jacob. However, among English speakers, it is now felt to be a separate name in its own right. This is largely because in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) the form James is used in the New Testament as the name of two of Christ’s apostles (James the brother of John and James the brother of Andrew), whereas in the Old Testament the brother of Esau is called Jacob. The form James comes from Latin Jacobus via Late Latin Jac(o)mus, which also gave rise to Jaime, the regular form of the name in Spanish (as opposed to the learned Jacobo). See also Jack and Jackman. This is a common surname throughout the British Isles, particularly in South Wales.

Scottish: variant spelling of Stirling. English: perhaps a variant of Starling. German: from Middle High German sterlinc, the name of a coin, hence probably a nickname for someone who paid that amount in rent.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Laguna, from laguna ‘pool’, ‘pond’ (from Latin lacuna ‘hollow’, ‘hole’).

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from lindo ‘lovely’.

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Dutch, and German: from the personal name Gil, from French Gille(s), from Latin Aegidius (see Giles). German: from Slavic gil ‘bullfinch’, probably a nickname for a simpleton.

Spanish (Alarcón): habitational name, most probably from Alarcón in Cuenca province.

English and Scottish: variant spelling of Allen. This is the usual spelling of the personal name in England and Scotland, but is infrequent as a surname.

Spanish: habitational name from Buitrago in Soria province or possibly Buitrago del Lozoya in Madrid province, so named with the Late Latin personal name Vulturius (a derivative of vultur ‘vulture’) + the locative suffix -acum.

English: from a Middle English pet form of Nicholas. English: from a Middle English personal name derived from the Old English byname Cola (from col ‘(char)coal’, presumably denoting someone of swarthy appearance), or the Old Norse cognate Koli. Scottish and Irish: when not of English origin, this is a reduced and altered form of McCool. In some cases, particularly in New England, Cole is a translation of the French surname Charbonneau. Probably an Americanized spelling of German Kohl.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in León province named Almanza.

Spanish: variant of Cortés (see Cortes).

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Móráin ‘descendant of Mórán’, a personal name meaning ‘great’, ‘large’; the stress is normally on the first syllable. English: variant of Morant, normally pronounced with the stress on the second syllable. Spanish (Morán): habitational name from places called Morán in Asturies, Galicia (Pontevedra) and Aragon (Zaragoza).

Origin unidentified.

Spanish (Cáceres): habitational name from the city of Cáceres in Estremadura, named with the plural of Arabic al-qa?sr ‘the citadel’.

English: from the medieval personal name Benedict (Latin Benedictus meaning ‘blessed’). In the 12th century the Latin form of the name is found in England alongside versions derived from the Old French form Beneit, Benoit, which was common among the Normans. See also Benedict.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Portillo, from the diminutive of puerto ‘mountain pass’, notably those in Valladolid, Soria, and Toledo.

topographic name for someone who lived in the lower part of a village, from Basque uri ‘settlement’ + be(h)e ‘lower part’. habitational name from Uribe, a town in Biscay province, Basque Country.

Spanish (Arévalo): habitational name from places called Arévalo, in the provinces of Ávila and Soria, or from various places named with this word.

Portuguese: from an irregular derivative, of uncertain significance, of Pimenta.

Spanish (Alanís) and Portuguese: variant of Alaniz. Greek: from alani ‘open space’, ‘square’ (Turkish alan), a nickname for an idler, someone whose time was spent loafing around in the square of a town or village.

Italian: from a diminutive of Cavallo.

French: from a diminutive of pic ‘pick’, hence probably a metonymic occupational name for someone who made or used such implements. Spanish and Galician (Picón): possibly a nickname from picón ‘long in the tooth’ (of a horse), or a habitational name from any of the places in Galicia so named.

English: variant spelling of Gale.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from the city in central Spain, which was the capital of the Visigothic state between the 6th and 8th centuries. Its role declined for three centuries after the Muslim invasion of Spain, until it was taken as the capital of the kingdom of Castile between the 11th and 16th centuries. It was a major cultural and political center throughout the Middle Ages, and was also the home of an important Jewish community. The place name, first recorded in Latin as Toletum, is of obscure etymology, possibly connected with Toleto in Piedmont; Jewish tradition connects it with Hebrew toledot ‘generations’, but this is no more than folk etymology.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: distinguishing name (Middle English yunge, yonge ‘young’), for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name, usually distinguishing a younger brother or a son. In Middle English this name is often found with the Anglo-Norman French definite article, for example Robert le Yunge. Americanization of a cognate, equivalent, or like-sounding surname in some other language, notably German Jung and Junk, Dutch (De) Jong(h) and Jong, and French Lejeune and LaJeunesse. assimilated form of French Dion or Guyon. Chinese: see Yang.

Basque: variant of Zabala 1.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the many places in Spain, especially Galicia, called Palacio (alongside the Galician form Pazo), or from El Palacio, Castilianized form of El Palaciu, a town in Asturies. All are named with palacio ‘palace’, ‘manor’, ‘great house’, Latin palatium, a word derived from the Palatium or mons Palatinus in Rome, site of the emperor Augustus’ golden house.

English: habitational name from a place now in Worcestershire (formerly in Gloucestershire) named Beckford, from the Old English byname Becca (see Beck 4) + Old English ford ‘ford’.

Spanish: from a diminutive of Delgado.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceallaigh ‘descendant of Ceallach’, an ancient Irish personal name, originally a byname meaning ‘bright-headed’, later understood as ‘frequenting churches’ (Irish ceall). There are several early Irish saints who bore this name. Kelly is now the most common of all Irish family names in Ireland.

German: from Low German Kopper ‘copper’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a copper dealer or coppersmith. German: occupational name, from Low German Köpper ‘bloodletter’, i.e. someone who applied cups in order to effect a bleeding. German: from Slavic kopr ‘dill’, ‘fennel’, hence a topographic name or a metonymic occupational name for a herb grower or dealer. Compare Koper. German: habitational name for someone from any of the places called Koppen. Dutch: variant of Koper.

habitational name from La Rovira in Barcelona province. topographic name for someone who lived by an oak wood, from Catalan rovira, collective form of roure ‘oak’ (from Latin robur).

Spanish (of Basque origin): habitational name from a minor place in Santander province named Bedoya. The place name is from Basque bedi ‘pasture’, ‘grazing’ + the locative suffix -ona.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Middle High German smit, German Schmied ‘blacksmith’. The German surname is found in many other parts of Europe, from Slovenia to Sweden.

Spanish (Vélez): patronymic from the personal name Vela. Spanish (Vélez): habitational name from any of various places in Andalusia called Vélez. Portuguese (Velez, Velêz): unexplained. It may be a habitational name from Vellés in Salamanca.

English and Scottish: from Maurice, an Old French personal name introduced to Britain by the Normans, Latin Mauritius, a derivative of Maurus (see Moore). This was the name of several early Christian saints. In some cases it may be a nickname of the same derivation for someone with a swarthy complexion. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muirghis, a variant of Ó Muirgheasa (see Morrissey). Welsh: Anglicized form of the Welsh personal name Meurig (from Latin Mauritius), which was gradually superseded in Wales by Morus, Morys, a derivative of the Anglo-Norman French form of the name (see 1). German: variant of Moritz. Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish surnames (see Morse).

Spanish: habitational name from places named Valenzuela in Córdoba and Ciudad Real. The place name is a diminutive of Valencia, literally ‘Little Valencia’.

Scottish and northern English: from Middle English belle ‘bell’, in various applications; most probably a metonymic occupational name for a bell ringer or bell maker, or a topographic name for someone living ‘at the bell’ (as attested by 14th-century forms such as John atte Belle). This indicates either residence by an actual bell (e.g. a town’s bell in a bell tower, centrally placed to summon meetings, sound the alarm, etc.) or ‘at the sign of the bell’, i.e. a house or inn sign (although surnames derived from house and inn signs are rare in Scots and English). Scottish and northern English: from the medieval personal name Bel. As a man’s name this is from Old French beu, bel ‘handsome’, which was also used as a nickname. As a female name it represents a short form of Isobel, a form of Elizabeth. Scottish: Americanized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhaoil ‘son of the servant of the devotee’ (see Mullen 1). Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead in western Norway named Bell, the origin of which is unexplained. Scandinavian: of English or German origin; in German as a habitational name for someone from Bell in Rhineland, Germany, or possibly from Belle in Westphalia. Americanized spelling of German Böhl or Böll (see Boehle, Boll).

Spanish: from palomo ‘pigeon’, ‘dove’. Compare Palombo.

Basque: topographic name from Basque argi ‘light’ + -eta ‘place or abundance of’, and so probably denoting a clearing.

Spanish: from tercero ‘third’ (Latin tertiarius ‘third part’).

Scottish and English (of Norman origin): habitational name for someone from Rots near Caen in Normandy, probably named with the Germanic element rod ‘clearing’. Compare Rhodes. This was the original home of a family de Ros, who were established in Kent in 1130. Scottish and English: habitational name from any of various places called Ross or Roos(e), deriving the name from Welsh rhós ‘upland’ or moorland, or from a British ancestor of this word, which also had the sense ‘promontory’. This is the sense of the cognate Gaelic word ros. Known sources of the surname include Roos in Humberside (formerly in East Yorkshire) and the region of northern Scotland known as Ross. Other possible sources are Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, Ross in Northumbria (which is on a promontory), and Roose in Lancashire English and German: from the Germanic personal name Rozzo, a short form of the various compound names with the first element hrod ‘renown’, introduced into England by the Normans in the form Roce. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a breeder or keeper of horses, from Middle High German ros, German Ross ‘horse’; perhaps also a nickname for someone thought to resemble a horse or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a horse. Jewish: Americanized form of Rose 3.

Basque: habitational name from Funes, a place in Navarre province, Basque Country.

Spanish: habitational name for someone ‘from Zamora’, from an adjectival form of the place name. Spanish: possibly also habitational name for someone from Zanbrana, a town in Araba province, Basque Country. Italian: of uncertain derivation; it is thought by some authorities, on the basis of the form Zammarano to be a habitational name for someone from Zammaro, part of San Gregorio d’Ippona in Vibe Valentia province, hypercorrection of -mm- to -mb- being a characteristic of southern dialect.

Spanish: habitational name from a place so named in Mantua, Italy; this was the home of the ruling family of Mantua for almost four centuries, whose most famous son was St. Louis Gonzaga.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from Spanish, Portuguese garrido ‘elegant’, ‘handsome’, ‘comely’.

probably Spanish: unexplained. In Spain this name is mainly found in Andalusia. English: variant spelling of Paine. Southern French: from Latin paganus ‘country dweller’, hence a nickname for a country-born person, or from its later sense of ‘pagan’, ‘heathen’, given to a child not yet baptized. Compare Paine.

Basque: habitational name or topographic name from Basque ai ‘slope’, ‘hillside’ + al(h)a ‘pasture’.

English: occupational name for a maker and repairer of wooden vessels such as barrels, tubs, buckets, casks, and vats, from Middle English couper, cowper (apparently from Middle Dutch kuper, a derivative of kup ‘tub’, ‘container’, which was borrowed independently into English as coop). The prevalence of the surname, its cognates, and equivalents bears witness to the fact that this was one of the chief specialist trades in the Middle Ages throughout Europe. In America, the English name has absorbed some cases of like-sounding cognates and words with similar meaning in other European languages, for example Dutch Kuiper. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of Kupfer and Kupper (see Kuper). Dutch: occupational name for a buyer or merchant, Middle Dutch coper.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Espinosa, from a collective form of espina ‘thorn’.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhomhnuill, a patronymic from the personal name Domhnall, which is composed of the ancient Celtic elements domno- ‘world’ + val- ‘might’, ‘rule’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Gallegos, originally denoting a place settled by ‘people from Galicia’.

English, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Abraham.

Spanish (Gálvez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Galve (Arabic Ghalib ‘triumphant’), which was borne by various Moorish chieftains in Spanish history and legend, notably the father-in-law of Al-Mansur, the 10th-century vizier of Córdoba.

French: occupational name for a baker, Old French fournier (Latin furnarius), originally the man responsible for cooking the dough in the fourneau ‘oven’ (see Baker). This surname is frequently Americanized as Fuller.

Spanish (of Basque origin): Castilianized form of the Basque personal name Otxoa, equivalent of Latin lupus ‘wolf’.

Scottish, English, and northern Irish: habitational name from any of the various places, for example in Lanarkshire (Scotland) and Dorset and Lancashire (England) called Crawford, named in Old English with crawe ‘crow’ + ford ‘ford’. English: variant of Crowfoot (see Crofoot).

Variant spelling of German Matthey.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the numerous places named Sierra or La Sierra, from sierra ‘ridge or chain of hills’ (from Latin serra ‘saw’).

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Arguijo, in Zamora province.

Welsh: patronymic from the personal name Iefan (see Evan), with redundant English patronymic -s.

Spanish: habitational name from Roa in Burgos province.

Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Eathain, a patronymic from a personal name meaning ‘servant of (Saint) John’. The family bearing this name were chieftains in several islands of the Inner Hebrides. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Eóin, cognate with 1, from a different Gaelic form of Johannes (John). Compare McGlone.

Spanish and Asturian-Leonese: topographic name meaning ‘place of olives’.

from the Middle English, Old French personal name Michel, vernacular form of Michael. nickname for a big man, from Middle English michel, mechel, muchel ‘big’. Irish (County Connacht): surname adopted as equivalent of Mulvihill.

Catalan (Vallès): regional name for someone from a region of Catalonia named with vallès ‘of or relating to the valley’ (from Latin vallensis, an adjective derivative of vallis ‘valley’). This name is very common in Catalonia. Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Valles or Los Valles, from valles, plural of valle ‘valley’.

Scottish: habitational name from any of the various places called Douglas from their situation on a river named with Gaelic dubh ‘dark’, ‘black’ + glas ‘stream’ (a derivative of glas ‘blue’). There are several localities in Scotland and Ireland so named, but the one from which the surname is derived in most if not all cases is 20 miles south of Glasgow, the original stronghold of the influential Douglas family and their retainers.

Spanish (common in Mexico): unexplained.

Spanish (Echavarría): variant of Echevarría, a Castilianized form of Basque Etxeberria (see Echevarria).

Basque Izagirre, a variant of Aizagirre, a topographic name for someone who lived in a place exposed to the wind, from Basque aize ‘wind’ + ager, agir ‘visible’, ‘exposed.’

English, Portuguese, Galician, Spanish, Catalan, and French: occupational name for a shepherd, Anglo-Norman French pastre (oblique case pastour), Portuguese, Galician, Spanish, Catalan, pastor ‘shepherd’, from Latin pastor, an agent derivative of pascere ‘to graze’. The religious sense of a spiritual leader was rare in the Middle Ages, and insofar as it occurs at all it seems always to be a conscious metaphor; it is unlikely, therefore, that this sense lies behind any examples of the surname. German and Dutch: humanistic name, a Latinized form of various vernacular names meaning ‘shepherd’, for example Hirt or Schäfer (see Schafer). Americanized spelling of Hungarian Pásztor, an occupational name from pásztor ‘shepherd’.

German: patronymic from Bartel 1 or 2.

Spanish: from infante literally ‘child’, but in Spain also a title borne by the eldest sons of noblemen before they inherited, and in particular by the son of the king of Castile; thus the surname probably originated either as a nickname for one of a lordly disposition or as an occupational name for a member of the household of an infante. Italian: nickname for someone with a childlike disposition, from infante ‘child’ (Latin infans, literally ‘one who cannot speak’).

English: nickname from Middle English pinnock ‘hedge sparrow’.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from a pet form of Pate, a short form of Patrick. Irish: in Ulster of English or Scottish origin; in County Galway, a surname taken by bearers of Gaelic Ó Caisín ‘descendant of the little curly-headed one’ (from Gaelic casán), which is usually Anglicized as Cussane.

English (very common in England, especially in the south Midlands, and in Wales) and German (especially northwestern Germany): patronymic from the personal name Adam. In the U.S. this form has absorbed many patronymics and other derivatives of Adam in languages other than English. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)

Spanish, Galician, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Lagos, especially in Galicia. Greek: nickname for a timid person or a fast runner, from Greek lagos ‘hare’, or a reduced form of a patronymic based on such a nickname, such as Lagoudakis.

French: from a Germanic personal name, Warinhari, composed of the elements war(in) ‘guard’ + hari, heri ‘army’. English: variant of Garner 1.

English and Welsh (very common in southern England and South Wales): patronymic from the medieval English personal name Harry, pet form of Henry. This name is also well established in Ireland, taken there principally during the Plantation of Ulster. In some cases, particularly in families coming from County Mayo, both Harris and Harrison can be Anglicized forms of Gaelic Ó hEarchadha. Greek: reduced form of the Greek personal name Kharalambos, composed of the elements khara ‘joy’ + lambein ‘to shine’. Jewish: Americanized form of any of various like-sounding Jewish names.

Spanish (Ocón): habitational name from Ocón in La Rioja province, or possibly in some cases from Villafranca de Ocón in Burgos province.

Spanish and Aragonese: from the personal name Tello (see Tellez). Italian: from a short form of a personal name formed with this suffix, as for example Donatello, Moscatello, Otello.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the plural of rosa ‘rose’. Catalan: variant of Roses, habitational name from Roses, a town in L’Alt Empordà, Catalonia (earlier Rodas). Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Las Rosas.

English, French, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and Slovenian: from a Germanic personal name (see Bernhard). The popularity of the personal name was greatly increased by virtue of its having been borne by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090–1153), founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux. Americanized form of German Bernhard or any of the other cognates in European languages; for forms see Hanks and Hodges 1988.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEidhin ‘descendant of Eidhin’, a personal name or byname of uncertain origin. It may be a derivative of eidhean ‘ivy’, or it may represent an altered form of the place name Aidhne. The principal family of this name is descended from Guaire of Aidhne, King of Connacht. From the 7th century for over a thousand years they were chiefs of a territory in County Galway. English: patronymic from Hine. Americanized spelling of German Heins or Heinz.

Spanish: variant of Monterroso. This name is mainly found in Mexico and Central America.

Danish and Norwegian: patronymic from the personal name Olaf, Olav (Old Norse Óláfr, Ólafr, variant Óleifr, earlier Anleifr, from proto-Scandinavian elements meaning ‘ancestor’ + ‘heir’, ‘descendant’). Olaf has always been one of the most common Scandinavian names; it continued to be popular in the Middle Ages, in part as a result of the fame of St. Olaf, King of Norway, who brought Christianity to his country c.1030. This surname, the second most common in Norway, is also established in England, notably in the Newcastle upon Tyne area. German (Ölsen): habitational name from any of several places so named, in Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Rhineland.

English: occupational name for a blacksmith (see Ferrier).

Spanish (of Basque origin): Castilianized form of Okendo, a habitational name from Okendo in Arava province, Basque Country.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Reina. Spanish and Portuguese: most likely from the female personal name Reina (from Latin Regina), otherwise a nickname from reina ‘queen’. Italian: from a Sicilian variant of regina ‘queen’ (see Regina).

Catalan: habitational name from any of the various places named Roda, for example Roda de Ter, Roda de Berà, Roda de Ribagorça, from Catalan roda ‘wheel’ (Latin rota), possibly denoting a waterwheel. Greek: variant of Rodias (see Rodia). German: habitation name from any of numerous places, particularly in central eastern Germany, named Roda or Rhoda.

Catalan: habitational name from any of several places called Borges in Catalonia, for example, Les Borges Blanques, in Lleida, or Les Borges del Camp, in Tarragona. Portuguese: of disputed etymology; possibly a habitational name for someone from Bourges in France. German: from a short form of the medieval personal name Liborius. Danish: from the German patronymic Borchers.

English, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Róbert), etc: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hrod ‘renown’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. This is found occasionally in England before the Conquest, but in the main it was introduced into England by the Normans and quickly became popular among all classes of society. The surname is also occasionally borne by Jews, as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Czech (Moravian) and Slovak (Matúš); Polish; Croatian (Slavonia, Matuš); and Slovenian (eastern Slovenia, Matuš): from Slavic forms of the Latin personal name Matthaeus (see Matthew). Hungarian: from a pet form of Máté, Hungarian form of Matthew. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Mates.

Catalan: topographic name from Catalan perera ‘pear tree’. Galician and Portuguese: variant of Pereira. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Scottish: habitational name from a district in Ayrshire, first recorded in 1153 in the form Cunegan, a Celtic name of uncertain origin. The spellings in -ham, first recorded in 1180, and in -ynghame, first recorded in 1227, represent a gradual assimilation to the English place-name element -ingham. Irish: surname adopted from Scottish by bearers of Gaelic Ó Cuinneagáin ‘descendant of Cuinneagán’, a personal name from a double diminutive of the Old Irish personal name Conn meaning ‘leader’, ‘chief’.

Portuguese and Galician: nickname from Portuguese and Galician novo ‘new’, ‘young’ (Latin novus). The word was also occasionally used in the Middle Ages as a personal name, particularly for a child born after the death of a sibling, and this may also be a source of the surname.

Spanish: habitational name from Polanco in Santander province.

Catalan and Galician: habitational name from Prada de Conflent, in northern Catalonia, or any other places in Catalonia and in Galicia named Prada, so named from Catalan prada or a variant of Galician prado ‘meadow’ (Latin pratum). Northern Italian: habitational name from any of numerous places in northern Italy called Prada, from a variant of Prata, cognate with 1 above.

English: occupational name for someone employed in the pantry of a great house or monastery, from Middle English spense ‘larder’ + the agent suffix -er.

Scottish: regional name from Moray in northeastern Scotland, which is probably named with Old Celtic elements meaning ‘sea’ + ‘settlement’. Irish (southern Ulster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Muireadhaigh ‘descendant of Muireadhach’ (the name of several different families in various parts of Ireland), or a shortened form of McMurray. Irish: reduced form of MacIlmurray, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhuire (see Gilmore).

Spanish: habitational name from Batres in Madrid province. There are many bearers of this name in Guatamala and Mexico.

Spanish: topographic name formed with Basque uri-, iri- ‘hamlet’, ‘village’, ‘settlement’.

Italian: nickname for a cheerful person, from grillo ‘cricket’ (Late Latin grillus). Respelling of French Grillot.

Variant of Basque Arteaga.

French (Lemaître): from Old French maistre ‘master’, hence a nickname for someone who behaved in a masterful manner, or an occupational name for someone who was master of his craft.

Spanish: habitational name from either of two places in the Burgos province: Jaramillo de la Fuente or Jaramillo Quemada.

Spanish: nickname from rubio ‘red’ (Latin rubeus), probably denoting someone with red hair or a red beard. Catalan (Rubió): habitational name from any of the places named Rubió in Catalonia.

French: from the personal name Mathieu, vernacular derivative of Latin Mathias or Matthaeus (see Matthew).

Chinese : variant of Wu 1. Chinese : variant of Wu 4.

Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): from a medieval personal name, a short form of Bonaventura or Buenaventura, meaning ‘good fortune’, or, in the case of the Italian name, a nickname from ventura ‘fortune’, ‘luck’. The name Bonaventura was borne in honor of a saint (1221–74) who was given this nickname by St. Francis of Assisi when he cured him miraculously as a child.

Basque: habitational name from Irigoyen in Gipuzkoa province or a topographic name from Basque iri ‘village’ + goi ‘superior’, ‘upper’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cárthaigh ‘son of Cárthach’, a personal name meaning ‘loving’. This is the name of an important Munster family.

Castilianized form of Asturian-Leonese Llames, Llamas or L.lamas, habitational names from any of the numerous places named Llames, Llamas, or L.lamas, in Asturies.

English: from the Middle English and Old French personal name Lorens, Laurence (Latin Laurentius ‘man from Laurentum’, a place in Italy probably named from its laurels or bay trees). The name was borne by a saint who was martyred at Rome in the 3rd century ad; he enjoyed a considerable cult throughout Europe, with consequent popularity of the personal name (French Laurent, Italian, Spanish Lorenzo, Catalan Llorenç, Portuguese Lourenço, German Laurenz; Polish Wawrzyniec (assimilated to the Polish word wawrzyn ‘laurel’), etc.). The surname is also borne by Jews among whom it is presumably an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Ashkenazic surnames.

Italian: from the personal name Pitto, a Lombard variant of Bitto.

Spanish: topographical name from cueva ‘cave’, plural cuevas, or a habitational name from any of numerous places named with this word, for example in the provinces of Burgos and Málaga.

Spanish (Benítez): patronymic from Benito.

Spanish: habitational name from Ojeda in Burgos province or from the valley of Ojeda in Palencia province, which is probably named with a reduced form of Latin folia ‘leaves’ + the collective suffix -eta.

Asturian-Leonese and Spanish: habitational name from any of the places (mainly in Asturies) called Villa, from villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’, or from any of the numerous places named with this word as the first element. Italian: topographic name for someone who lived in a village as opposed to an isolated farmhouse, or in a town as opposed to the countryside, from Latin villa ‘country house’, ‘estate’, later used to denote of a group of houses forming a settlement and in some dialects to denote the most important area or center of a settlement, or a habitational name from any of various places named with this word.

Portuguese: variant of Cardosa.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the honorific title Cid (from Arabic sayyid ‘lord’), borne by Christian overlords with Muslim vassals, most famously by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043–99), El Cid. This was early adopted as a personal name.

Polish: nickname from a derivative of orzel ‘eagle’.

Spanish and Portuguese: from Spanish, Portuguese pita ‘chicken’ or in some cases possibly from the plant pita ‘pita’, ‘American aloe’, presumably a topographic name.

English: one of the most common and widespread of English surnames, either a nickname for someone who was fond of dressing in this color (Old English grene) or who had played the part of the ‘Green Man’ in the May Day celebrations, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a village green, Middle English grene (a transferred use of the color term). In North America this name has no doubt assimilated cognates from other European languages, notably German Grün (see Gruen). Jewish (American): Americanized form of German Grün or Yiddish Grin, Ashkenazic ornamental names meaning ‘green’ or a short form of any of the numerous compounds with this element. Irish: translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’. See also Fahey. North German: short form of a habitational name from a place name with Gren- as the first element (for example Greune, Greubole).

Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician: nickname from pulido or polido ‘smart’, ‘neat’, ‘handsome’.

Spanish: of uncertain derivation; probably a habitational name from one of the places in Galicia called Lira, in A Coruña and Pontevedra provinces.

Chinese : variant of Zheng. Chinese : from the name of the area of Cheng during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc). A high adviser who was a descendant of the legendary emperor Zhuan Xu was granted the fiefdom of this area, and his descendants adopted its name as their surname. Chinese : from the name of the state of Cheng during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc). The fifth son of Wen Wang was granted lordship of the state of Cheng following the fall of the Shang dynasty and the establishment of the Zhou dynasty. Subsequently, his descendants adopted the place name as their surname.

Hispanic (common in Mexico and El Salvador): unexplained.

Spanish: habitational name from places in the provinces of Badajoz and Cadiz called Jerez. The former, now known in full as Jerez de los Caballeros, was the birthplace of the explorer Vasco Núñez (c.1475–1519); the latter, Jerez de la Frontera, was an important center for the manufacture of sherry (named in English from the place) and brandy.

Spanish: occupational or status name from Spanish merino, the title of a royal or seigneurial functionary who had wide legal and military jurisdiction over a district. The word is from Late Latin maiorinus, a derivative of maior. Compare Mayer and Mayoral.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named Villar, or in some cases a Castilianized spelling of the Catalan and Galician cognates Vilar. English: variant of Villers, cognate with 3. Southern French: topographic name from Late Latin villare ‘outlying farm’, ‘dependent settlement’, or a habitational name from any of various places named with this word.

English: from the possessive case of Brook (i.e. ‘of the brook’). Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames. Americanized spelling of German Brucks.

Bruno, from the latin "prunum"—prunes, or prune tree.This surname should not be associated with the Germanic "brun" - dark complexion - but with "brunna, prunja" - breast plate, cuirass.

English and German: patronymic from Walter.

Spanish (Beltrán), Catalan, and southern French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’ + hrabn ‘raven’. See also Bertram.

Spanish: ethnic name from escoto, originally denoting a Gaelic speaker from Ireland or Scotland; later, a Scot, someone from Scotland. See Scott.

Spanish: from the personal name Gonzalo, of Visigothic origin, formed with gunþ ‘battle’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Valderrama, as for example in Burgos province.

Scottish, English, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a tall person, from Older Scots, Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle German, and Danish lang ‘long’, Swedish lång. Hungarian: from láng ‘flame’, hence probably a nickname for a passionate person, or a man with a fighting spirit. Alternatively it may be an indirect occupational name for a smith or someone who worked with fire. Chinese : from the name of a place called Lang City in the state of Lu, founded during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) by a grandson of the ruler. His descendants lived there and adopted Lang as their surname. Vietnamese (Lãng): unexplained.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname for someone with tawny hair, from pardo ‘dusky’, ‘brown’, ‘dark gray’, (from Latin pardus ‘leopard’). Italian: from a personal name, a variant of the Lombardic personal name Bardo (see Bardo). Italian and Greek: from the Greek personal name Pardos ‘leopard’, ‘cheetah’.

French, English, and German: from the medieval personal name Paris, which is actually an Old French variant of Patrice (see Patrick), but which became associated with the name of the Trojan prince Paris in Homer’s Iliad. French, English, and German: habitational name from the French city of Paris or a nickname denoting someone who had Parisian connections, for example through trade. Catalan (París): from a reduced form of the personal name Aparici, which was given to children born on the Feast of the Epiphany, 6th January (see Aparicio). Hungarian (Páris): from the personal name Páris or Párizs.

Altered spelling of Spanish Iglesias.

Spanish: unexplained, but apparently related to Pastrana.

Spanish: from estrella ‘star’ (Latin stella). Although in some cases it may derive from the medieval female personal name Estrella, also a Marian name (María de la Estrella) or from a nickname, in most instances it was probably a habitational name from any of the numerous places named Estrella or from La Estrella in Toledo; other possibilities are a topographic name for someone who lived at a place from which roads radiated out in a star shape or a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a star.

English: from the Norman personal name Huard, Heward, composed of the Germanic elements hug ‘heart’, ‘mind’, ‘spirit’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. English: from the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name Haward, composed of the Old Norse elements há ‘high’ + varðr ‘guardian’, ‘warden’. English: variant of Ewart 2. Irish: see Fogarty. Irish (County Clare) surname adopted as an equivalent of Gaelic Ó hÍomhair, which was formerly Anglicized as O’Hure.

This word seems like a variation of "sotero" which means "Salvador" or savior.Galician name.

English: from Middle English, Old French palmer, paumer (from palme, paume ‘palm tree’, Latin palma), a nickname for someone who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Such pilgrims generally brought back a palm branch as proof that they had actually made the journey, but there was a vigorous trade in false souvenirs, and the term also came to be applied to a cleric who sold indulgences. Swedish (Palmér): ornamental name formed with palm ‘palm tree’ + the suffix -ér, from Latin -erius ‘descendant of’. Irish: when not truly of English origin (see 1 above), a surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Maolfhoghmhair (see Milford) perhaps because they were from an ecclesiastical family. German: topographic name for someone living among pussy willows (see Palm 2). German: from the personal name Palm (see Palm 3).

Catalan: old form of Rosas.

Chinese : variant of Feng 1. Chinese : variant of Feng 2. Chinese : variant of Feng 3. Chinese : variant of Feng 4.

Spanish: occupational name for a stone breaker, marrero, a derivative of marra ‘hammer’.

Portuguese and Spanish (Marroquín): ethnic name for someone from Morocco.

Galician and Spanish (Vázquez): variant of Vásquez (see Vasquez).

English and German: patronymic from the personal name Richard. Richards is a frequent name in Wales.

topographic name for someone who lived by a hedgerow or in a row of houses built next to one another, from Middle English row (northern Middle English raw, from Old English raw). from the medieval personal name Row, a variant of Rou(l) (see Rollo, Rolf) or a short form of Rowland. English name adopted by bearers of French Baillargeon.

French: from a vernacular form of the Latin personal name Laurentius (see Lawrence).

Spanish: probably variant of Almanzor, a habitational name for somebody who lived by the area of Almanzor, a remarkable mountain in Sierra de Gredos, in Ávila province. The name Almanzor possibly originates from the personal name of Almanzor (arabic al-Mansur), the fearsome vizier and actual ruler of Muslim Spain from 978 to 1002. The variant Umanzor is mainly found in Chile, El Salvador, and Honduras.

English (of Welsh origin): Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hywel ‘son of Hywel’, a personal name meaning ‘eminent’ (see Howell). Irish: mainly of Welsh origin as in 1 above, but sometimes a surname adopted as equivalent of Gaelic Mac Giolla Phóil ‘son of the servant of St. Paul’ (see Guilfoyle).

English: variant spelling of Chinn. Chinese : variant of Jin 1. Chinese : Cantonese variant of Qian. Chinese : variant of Qin 1. Chinese : variant of Qin 2. Chinese : variant of Jin 2. Chinese : variant of Jin 3. Korean: there are four Chinese characters for the surname Chin, representing five clans. At least three of the clans have origins in China; most of them migrated to Korea during the Kory{ou} period (ad 918–1392).

Irish, Scottish, or English: unexplained. Slovenian: unexplained.

Hispanic: unexplained. This is predominantly a Latin American surname, occurring in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

Spanish: occupational name for a blacksmith, from an agent derivative of hierro ‘iron’ (Latin ferrum).

Scottish and northern Irish: from Anglo-Norman French waleis ‘Welsh’ (from a Germanic cognate of Old English wealh ‘foreign’), hence an ethnic name for a Welsh speaker. In some cases this clearly denoted an incomer to Scotland from Wales or the Welsh Marches, but it may also have denoted a Welsh-speaking Scot: in western Scotland around Glasgow, the Welsh-speaking Strathclyde Britons survived well into the Middle Ages. Jewish: this surname has been adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries as an Americanized form of various Ashkenazic Jewish surnames, e.g. Wallach.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Berold,' the French Berraud. This great surname appears as a personal name in Domesday: Baret, Yorkshire.Stephanus fil. Beroldi, Pipe Roll, 5 Henry II.Berard de Wattlesfeld, Suffolk, 1273.

One who came from Galarza (stone mound), in Spain.Galarza comes from a Basque word meaning "abedulal" or place of the birch trees.Basque name from parish of Galarza in political subdivision of Vergara (Guipúzcoa). Later went to Vizcaya, Álava, and Navarre.

Scottish and English: habitational name from Grantham in Lincolnshire, recorded in Domesday Book as Graham (as well as Grantham, Grandham, and Granham). See also Grantham.

Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Pazos, from the plural of pazo ‘palace’, ‘manor’. Compare Spanish Palacios.

Aragonese: habitational name from Antillón in Uesca province, Aragon.

Spanish: from the personal name Jaime, Spanish equivalent of James.

English and French: nickname for someone who had some special connection with the Christmas season, such as owing the particular feudal duty of providing a yule-log to the lord of the manor, or having given a memorable performance as the Lord of Misrule. The name is from Middle English, Old French no(u)el ‘Christmas’ (Latin natalis (dies) ‘birthday’). It was also used as a given name for someone born during the Christmas period.

Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name ?Ali ‘high’, ‘lofty’, ‘sublime’. Al-?Ali ‘the All-High’ is an attribute of Allah. Abdul-?Ali means ‘servant of the All-High’. ?Ali ibn Abi ?Talib (c. 600–661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (ruled 656–61) and the first imam of the Shiite Muslims. His assassination led to the appearance of the Shiite sect.

Spanish (Milanés): habitational name for someone from Milan in Italy (Milano), from milanés, an adjectival form of the place name.

nickname for a bearded man, from Middle High German bart ‘beard’. See also Beard 1. variant of Bart 2. habitational name from a place so named in Pomerania.

Scottish and English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Dumfries, Strathclyde, and Yorkshire, named Blackwood, from Old English blæc ‘black’, ‘dark’ + wudu ‘wood’.

French: perhaps a variant of Brès, from the Gaulish personal name Brictius.

Spanish: from an old personal name from Latin Fortis, from fortis ‘strong’. Compare Portuguese Fortes.

Galician and Spanish: nickname, probably for a high-spirited person, from becerra ‘young cow’, ‘heifer’. It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a cowherd.

Spanish, Asturian-Leonese, and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, from busto ‘meadow’, ‘willow’. In Asturian-Leonese, this name is a Castilianized form of Asturian-Leonese Bustu, of the same origin. Busto (and its equivalent Bustu) is one of the commonest place names of northwestern Iberia.

Spanish (and Portuguese): from casco ‘helmet’, ‘shell’.

English: patronymic from the medieval personal name Hudde (see Hutt 1). This surname is particularly common in Yorkshire and is also well established in Ireland.

Spanish (Terán): habitational name from Terán in Santander province.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places in Spain named Torrente, from torrente ‘torrent’, ‘intermittent fast-flowing stream’.

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places in England named with Old Norse þorp ‘hamlet’, ‘village’ or the Old English cognate þrop.

Castilianized form of Asturian-Leonese Vixil, a habitational name from a place named Vixil in the district of Consejo de Siero, Asturies.

English, French, Danish, Dutch, and German: from a short form of the personal name Matthias (see Matthew) or any of its many cognates, for example Norman French Maheu. English, French, Dutch, and German: from a nickname or personal name taken from the month of May (Middle English, Old French mai, Middle High German meie, from Latin Maius (mensis), from Maia, a minor Roman goddess of fertility). This name was sometimes bestowed on someone born or baptized in the month of May; it was also used to refer to someone of a sunny disposition, or who had some anecdotal connection with the month of May, such as owing a feudal obligation then. English: nickname from Middle English may ‘young man or woman’. Irish (Connacht and Midlands): when not of English origin (see 1–3 above), this is an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Miadhaigh ‘descendant of Miadhach’, a personal name or byname meaning ‘honorable’, ‘proud’. French: habitational name from any of various places called May or Le May. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from Mayen, a place in western Germany. Americanized spelling of cognates of 1 in various European languages, for example Swedish Ma(i)j. Chinese : possibly a variant of Mei 1, although this spelling occurs more often for the given name than for the surname.

Scottish: habitational name from the lands of Keith in East Lothian. In the 17th century numerous bearers of this name settled in Ulster. German: nickname from Middle High German kit ‘sprout’, ‘offspring’.

Spanish (chiefly Central America): unexplained.

German: nickname for a quarrelsome or troublesome person, from Middle High German unvride ‘quarrel’, ‘restlessness’.

North German: from a Middle Low German personal name, Asc, originally meaning ‘spearman’ (see Ash). German: habitational name from any of various minor places named with asch ‘ash (tree)’. Compare Ascher. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Ash. English: variant spelling of Ash. See also Asche.

Asturian-Leonese and Spanish: habitational name from any of the towns called Nova in Albacete or Asturies. Galician: literally ‘new’, probably a habitational name from a place named Vila Nova. Italian: unexplained.

Chinese : from the name of a state of Zheng. Xuan Wang, penultimate king (827–781 bc) of the Western Zhou Dynasty, granted the fief of Zheng to his younger brother, along with the title Duke Xuan of Zheng. In the time of Duke Xuan’s son, Duke Gong, the capital of the Zhou dynasty was destroyed and the king was killed, bringing to an end the Western Zhou dynasty. The new Zhou king moved the capital eastward, beginning the Eastern Zhou dynasty. Duke Gong of Zheng moved eastward as well, to an area in present-day Henan province in central China, establishing a new state of Zheng. His descendants later adopted Zheng as their surname.

English: topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of land on which grew bent grass, rushes, or reeds (Middle English bent).

Chinese : from a word meaning ‘forest’. Bi Gan was a half-brother to Zhou Xin, the cruel and corrupt last king (1154–1123 bc) of the Shang dynasty. Bi Gan criticized his half-brother’s excesses, and for this he had his belly ripped open and his heart cut out. His wife fled to Chang Forest, where she gave birth to a son. When Zhou Xin was toppled by the new Zhou dynasty, the new Zhou ruler granted the son some land together with the name Lin. Chinese : variant of Lian 1. Scottish and English: perhaps a variant of Lynn. Dutch: probably a variant of Lyn.

Chinese : from a character meaning ‘prince’. There are numerous unrelated Wang clans, descendants of various princes of the Shang (1766–1122 bc) and Zhou (1122–221 bc) dynasties, including in particular descendants of the Shang dynasty prince Bi Gan and descendants of Bi Gonggao, 15th son of the virtuous duke Wen Wang, who was granted the state of Wei (a different state of Wei than that granted the eighth son; compare Sun). Chinese : from the name of a state or area called Wang. From ancient times through the Xia (2205–1766 bc) and Shang (1766–1122 bc) dynasties there existed a state of Wang. Later, during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), there also existed an area named Wang in the state of Lu. Some descendants of the ruling class of both areas took the place name Wang as their surname. Korean: there is one Chinese character for the surname Wang. Some sources indicate that there are fifteen Wang clans, but only two can be identified: the Kaesong Wang clan and the Chenam Wang clan. The Kaesong Wang clan, which originated in China, ruled the Korean peninsula for almost five hundred years as the ruling dynasty of the Koryo period (918–1392). There are some indications that the Kaesong Wang clan was present in the ancient Choson Kingdom (?194 bc). When the Chonju Yi clan seized power in 1392 and established the Choson kingdom, many of the members of the Kaesong Wang clan changed their names and went into hiding to avoid being persecuted by the new ruling dynasty. The Chenam Wang clan is also of Chinese origin. The Chenam Wang clan is much smaller than the Kaesong Wang clan. German and Dutch: from Middle German wang, Middle Dutch waenge, literally ‘cheek’, but also in southern German having the transferred sense ‘grassy slope’ or ‘field of grass’. It was thus either a topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow or a descriptive nickname for someone with noticeable cheeks (for example, round or rosy). Jewish (Ashkenazic): either a borrowing of the German name (see 4), or else a regional name for a Jew from Hungary (compare Russian Vengria ‘Hungary’). Scandinavian: variant spelling of Vang 1.

English: habitational name from either of two places called Caton, in Derbyshire and Lancashire. The former is probably named with the Old English personal name or byname Cada (see Cade) + Old English tun ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’; the latter is from the Old Norse byname Káti (see Cates) + tun. English and French: from a pet form of Catlin.

French: variant of Géron (see Geron). Spanish (Girón): from a medieval nickname Girón, from Galician girón (xirón) ‘hem’, ‘remnant’.

North German: patronymic from Johann, German form of John.

Galician and Spanish: habitational name from Lugo, a city in Galicia. This was a Roman settlement under the name of Lucus Augusti ‘grove or wood of Augustus’, but that may have been no more than an adaptation of an earlier name derived from that of the Celtic god Lugos.

Chinese : from the name of the city of Feng in the state of Wei during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc). The fifteenth son of the virtuous duke Wen Wang, Bi Gonggao, was granted the state of Wei soon after the founding of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc. A descendant of Bi Gonggao, Bi Wan, was granted Feng city, and his descendants took the city name as their surname. Chinese : from the name of a territory in what is now Henan province. A descendant of the second legendary emperor, Shen Nong (2734–2697 bc), was a tutor of the third legendary emperor, Huang Di (2697–2595 bc). In honor of this service he was granted an area called Feng, and his descendants adopted the place name as their surname. Chinese : from the name of a personage who lived during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). At this time, Duke Mu of the state of Zheng had a son whose name contained this character for Feng, and his descendants adopted it as their surname. Chinese : from the name of an area called Feng (location unknown). The seventeenth son of the virtuous duke Wen Wang, who lived in the twelfth century bc, was granted an area called Feng, along with the title Marquis of Feng. His descendants adopted the name of the place as their surname.

Scottish and English: of uncertain origin, possibly a nickname for an ungracious individual, from Anglo-Norman French maltalent, mautalent ‘bad temper’ (Late Latin malum ‘bad’ + talentum ‘inclination’, ‘disposition’). However, there is a place called Mautalant in Pontorson, France, which was named for its unproductive soil, and this may well be a partial source of the surname, particularly in Scotland where many historical examples of the name are written with the preposition de. The present spelling is the result of a contracted pronunciation and folk etymological identification with the common topographic element land.

Basque: habitational name from any of places in the Basque provinces named Zabaleta, from Basque zabal ‘big’, ‘wide’, ‘long’ + the collective suffix -eta.

Portuguese (and Galician): habitational name from any of various places called Araújo: in Portugal, in Coimbra, Elvas, Estremoz, Lisbon, Moncorvo, Monsão, Serpa, Setúbal, and Villa Verde; also in Ourense, Galicia.

Italian: from the medieval personal name Donato (Latin Donatus, past participle of donare, frequentative of dare ‘to give’). It was the name of a 4th-century Italian bishop martyred in c. 350 under Julian the Apostate, as well as various other early saints, and a 4th-century grammarian and commentator on Virgil, widely respected in the Middle Ages as a figure of great learning. See also Donat.

Spanish: variant of Vaca. Croatian, Czech and Slovak (Baca); Polish; Hungarian (Bacsa); Romanian: occupational name from Romanian baciu ‘shepherd’. Many Romanians were shepherds. In the mountains of Croatia baca denotes a senior shepherd. Croatian (Baca): from baca, a pet name meaning ‘brother’. Hungarian: nickname from baca ‘simple-minded’ or ‘obstinate’.

Scottish and northern English: patronymic from Law 1. Americanized form of Swedish Larsson.

Portuguese and Galician: patronymic from the personal name Paio, equivalent of Spanish Pelayo. Italian: when not of the same origin as 1, a nickname from Greek pais ‘boy’, ‘lad’, ‘servant’.

English and German: from Middle English, Middle High German west ‘west’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived to the west of a settlement, or a regional name for someone who had migrated from further west.

German (Güll): from the personal name Aegilius. South German and Swiss German: topographic name from Middle High German gülle ‘(swampy) puddle’. Catalan (Güell): habitational name from any of the places named Güell, in particular in Girona and Lleida provinces, Catalonia, named with Latin vadellum ‘little ford’.

French: variant of Milon.

habitational name from any of various places so called, from Spanish otero ‘height’, ‘hill’ (Late Latin altarium, a derivative of altus ‘high’). Castilianized form of the common Galician and Asturian-Leonese place names Outeiro and Uteru.

English, North German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the personal name Daniel.

Chinese : from an ancient territory called Huang. Perhaps the most famous and revered of the ancient Chinese emperors is Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), considered father of the Chinese people. He is also known as ‘the Yellow Emperor’, since Huang also means ‘yellow’. Surprisingly, though, Huang Di is not credited with being a direct source of the surname. A descendant of his was granted the fief of the territory of Huang, which later served as the surname for certain descendants of the ruling family.

Italian: from the medieval personal name Latino, originally an ethnic name for someone of Latin as opposed to Germanic, Byzantine or Slavic descent.

English, Scottish, French, and German: from the name of the flower, Middle English, Old French, Middle High German rose (Latin rosa), in various applications. In part it is a topographic name for someone who lived at a place where wild roses grew, or a habitational name for someone living at a house bearing the sign of the rose. It is also found, especially in Europe, as a nickname for a man with a ‘rosy’ complexion. As an American surname, this name has absorbed cognates and similar-sounding names from other European languages. English: variant of Royce. Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from the word for the flower (German Rose, Yiddish royz), or a metronymic name from the Yiddish female personal name Royze, derived from the word for the flower.