1000 Most Common Last Names in Spain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 (Domínguez): patronymic from the personal name Domingo.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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).

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

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

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.

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.

Ancient surname found in Valencia and in Majorca. This is a form of the name Sancho.Variation of the Basque word "anzo" meaning pasture.Aragonese name from Jaca (Huesca) and very common throughout the Peninsula. One branch in Navarre in Peralejos, political subdivision of Molina (Guadalajara) in the 14th century.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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: 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.

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

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

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

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’.

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: from the plural of flor ‘flower’.

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 (Márquez): patronymic from the personal name Marcos.

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

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: 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: topographic name from carrasco, carrasca ‘holm oak’ (from Latin cerrus, from a pre-Roman Celtiberian word), or a habitational name from any of various places named with this word, as for example Carrasco in Salamanca province or Casas Carrasco in Jaén province, Spain.

Spanish (Díez): variant of Díaz (see Diaz, Diego). German: variant spelling of Dietz.

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

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

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’).

Spanish: from the personal name Pascual, Latin Paschalis, from pascha ‘Easter’. Compare Italian Pasquale.

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

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

Catalan: occupational name for a blacksmith or a worker in iron, from Latin ferrarius. This is the commonest Catalan surname. English: variant of Farrar.

Spanish and Italian: from the personal name Lorenzo, derived from the Latin personal name Laurentius (see Lawrence).

Spanish (Giménez): variant of Jiménez (see Jimenez).

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: 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.

Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named for the dedication of their churches to St. James (Sant Iago). The apostle St. James the Greater is the patron saint of Spain; there is a medieval legend that, after the death of Christ, he did not meet a speedy end under Herod Agrippa, but visited and evangelized the Iberian peninsula. His alleged burial site at Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage from all over Europe for over a thousand years.

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 and Portuguese: from the personal name Vicente, Spanish and Portuguese equivalent of Vincent.

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

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 (Benítez): patronymic from Benito.

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, Portuguese, and northern Italian: nickname for a man with curly hair, from Latin crispus ‘curly-haired’.

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’.

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.

habitational name from El Soler, a town in El Rosselló district, northern Catalonia, or form any other place named El Soler or with Soler, from soler ‘ground’, ‘floor’ (Late Latin solarium, a derivative of solum ‘bottom’, ‘ground’). occupational name from Catalan soler, the person who makes or sells soles (of canvas sandals or shoes). This is a very common Catalan name.

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.

from the personal name Velasco, Belasco, formed with Basque bel- ‘raven’ + the diminutive suffix -sco. in some cases possibly a habitational name from any of various places in Logroño, Soria, and Seville provinces named Velasco.

S AN EZ Origen Y Significado El apellido Sáez se ha incluido en el grupo de los apellidos patronímicos, es decir, de aquellos que derivan del nombre propio de la persona que en un momento histórico determinado adoptan el nombre como apellido.

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’).

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.

Spanish (Esteban): from the personal name Esteban, Spanish vernacular form of Latin Stephanus (see Steven).

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

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

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.

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’.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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).

Spanish: nickname for a left-handed man, from Spanish izquierdo ‘left’ (a word of pre-Roman origin, akin to Basque ezker).

Spanish: status name for a married man, the head of a household, from Spanish casado, past participle of casar ‘to marry’ (a derivative of casa ‘house’).

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

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

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

Spanish (especially southern Spain): habitational name from any of various places called Vera or La Vera, named with vera ‘river bank’.

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

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 Luque in Córdoba.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Marcos (see Mark 1).

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 and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name for an inhabitant of Soria in Castile, from the adjective soriano ‘from Soria’. Southern Italian: habitational name from Soriano Calabro in Vibo Valentia province or Soriano nel Cimino in Viterbo, or of the same derivation as 1.

Swiss German: from a pet form of Martin 1. Italian: probably from medieval Greek Martios ‘March’, a nickname for someone who was born or baptized in March or had some other association with the month. Catalan (Martí) and southern French (Occitan): from the personal name Martí (see Martin). Hungarian: topographic name from mart ‘small hill’, ‘waterfront’. Hungarian: from Marti, a pet form of the personal name Márton, Hungarian form of Martin.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from a place called Valero in Salamanca province.

Catalan: from the personal name Bernal, a variant of Spanish Bernaldo (see Bernard).

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

Catalan: topographic name for somebody who lived in a vila, which in Catalonia denoted a small town or village with certain privileges not common for villages, or habitational name from any of the places called La Vila or Vila. This name is one of the most common names in Catalonia. Catalan: habitational name from (Vilá): variant of Vilar. in some cases possibly also Galician and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Galicia named Vila, from vila ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’.

Spanish: variant (plural) of Palacio.

Basque: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the province of Araba, Basque Country, so named from the plural of Late Latin heredium ‘hereditary estate’ (a derivative of heres), i.e. one that could be passed on to the heirs of its tenant instead of reverting to the overlord.

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: 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: from the personal name Mateo (see Matthew).

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: generally an approving (or ironic) nickname, from Spanish bueno ‘good’.

Spanish (Expósito): from expósito ‘exposed’ (Latin expositus past participle of exponere ‘to place outside’), a surname commonly bestowed on a foundling.

Spanish (Macías) and Portuguese: from a variant of the personal name Matías (see Matthew).

From the personal name Andres, a vernacular form of Andreas in various European languages, including Spanish Andrés, French (Breton) Andrès, German Andres, Czech Andrejs, etc.

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.

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.

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.

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

Spanish or Portuguese: from the personal name Mateo (see Matthew).

Spanish: occupational name for a squire, a young man of good birth attendant on a knight, or shield bearer, escudero (medieval Latin scutarius, a derivative of Latin scutum ‘shield’).

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

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

Spanish and Catalan: variant (plural) of Casa. The Catalan form is a respelling (probably Castilianization) of Catalan Cases.

Spanish and Galician: habitational name from any of the places in Galicia, Santander, and Cáceres named Rivero, from ribero ‘bank’, ‘shore’ (Late Latin riparium, a derivative of ripa ‘bank’).

Spanish (also Portuguese): nickname from rico ‘rich’.

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

Spanish and Catalan (Gràcia): from a short form of the religious epithet da Gracia meaning ‘of mercy’, from gracia ‘grace’, ‘mercy’.

Spanish: nickname from abad ‘priest’ (from Late Latin abbas ‘priest’, genitive abbatis, from the Aramaic word meaning ‘father’). The application is uncertain: it could be a nickname, an occupational name for the servant of a priest, or denote an (illegitimate) son of a priest. Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic ?Abbad ‘devoted worshiper’ or ‘servant’. The banu (tribe) ?Abbad claims descent from the ancient Lakhmid kings of al-?Hirah. The founder of the ?Abbadids of Seville was Muhammad bin ?Abbad (1023–42), whose son ?Abbad succeeded his father as chamberlain to the pretended khalif, but was soon ruling in his own right under the honorific title al-Muta??did ‘petitioner for justice (from Allah)’.

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’.

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

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from the title of rank conde ‘count’, a derivative of Latin comes, comitis ‘companion’. English: unexplained.

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 (Menéndez): patronymic from the medieval personal name Mendendo, a hypercorrected form of the Visigothic personal name Hermenegild, composed of the elements ermen, irmen ‘whole’, ‘entire’ + gild ‘tribute’. This personal name was borne by a 6th-century member of the Visigothic royal house, who was converted from Arianism to the Catholic faith and became an enormously popular saint, as a result of which the personal name was very common in Spain in the Middle Ages.

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.

Variant of Portuguese Esteves.

Spanish and Portuguese: occupational name for any of various officials who had to take an oath that they would perform their duty properly, from jurado ‘sworn’, past participle of jurar ‘to swear’ (Latin iurare).

Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named, from Catalan roca ‘rock’. This name is also Occitan.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called Plaza, from plaza ‘town square’.

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 various places, for example Aranda de Duero in Burgos province, which bears a name of pre-Roman, probably Celtic, origin.

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.

Italian, Portuguese, and Catalan: topographic name from Italian, Portuguese, Catalan serra ‘ridge or chain of hills’ (Latin serra ‘saw’). Italian: habitational name from any of various places named with serra ‘ridge’ (see 1 above), as for example Serra d’Aniello and Serra Pedace (Cosenza), Serra San Bruno (Vibo Valentia), Serracapriola (Foggia). Catalan: habitational name from any of various places, in Valencia and Catalonia, named Serra or with Serra, as for example Serra d’Almos or Serra d’en Galceran. Catalan (Serrà): topographic name for somebody who lived by a sierra, from Catalan serrà, an adjective derived from serra ‘mountain range’.

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.

topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or river bank, or on the coast (ultimately from Latin costa ‘rib’, ‘side’, ‘flank’, also used in a transferred topographical sense), or a habitational name from any of numerous places named Costa or named with this word. of Greek origin (see Costas).

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

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

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Miguel, equivalent to Michael.

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.

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: habitational name from any of various minor places named Manzano, or a topographic name for someone who lived by an apple tree or orchard, from Spanish manzano ‘apple tree’, Old Spanish maçano, from maçana ‘apple’, Late Latin (mala) Mattiana, a type of apple named in honor of the 1st century bc horticultural writer Gaius Matius.

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: 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.

Spanish: from cuesta ‘slope’, ‘bank’ (Latin costa ‘rib’, ‘side’, ‘flank’, also used in a transferred topographical sense), hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a slope or riverbank, less often on the coast, or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example La Cuesta, in the provinces of Segovia and Soria.

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

French, Occitan, Catalan (variant of Ponç), and Dutch: from a medieval personal name (see Ponce).

Spanish and Portuguese (Tomás), Catalan (Tomàs), Czech and Slovak (Tomáš), and Polish: from a personal name equivalent to Thomas.

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

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.

Spanish: probably a habitational name from any of various places, mainly in southern Spain, named La Mesa, from Latin mensa ‘table’, with reference to a topographic feature.

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: variant of Belasco.

English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Simón), Czech and Slovak (Šimon), Slovenian, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name, Hebrew Shim‘on, which is probably derived from the verb sham‘a ‘to hearken’. In the Vulgate and in many vernacular versions of the Old Testament, this is usually rendered Simeon. In the Greek New Testament, however, the name occurs as Simon, as a result of assimilation to the pre-existing Greek byname Simon (from simos ‘snub-nosed’). Both Simon and Simeon were in use as personal names in western Europe from the Middle Ages onward. In Christendom the former was always more popular, at least in part because of its associations with the apostle Simon Peter, the brother of Andrew. In Britain there was also confusion from an early date with Anglo-Scandinavian forms of Sigmund (see Siegmund), a name whose popularity was reinforced at the Conquest by the Norman form Simund.

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

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

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

Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese: from the popular Christian personal name Salvador, meaning ‘Savior’ (Latin Salvator, a derivative of salvare ‘to save’), bestowed in honor of Christ. In some cases, possibly a Spanish, Asturian-Leonese, or Galician habitational name from any of the places called Salvador, in Valladolid, Lugo, and Asturies.

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

Spanish (Millán): variant of Milían (see Milian). Galician: patronymical name from Millán, from a reduced form of a personal name from Latin Aemilianus (see Milian). Galician: in some cases, possibly a habitational name from any of the places in Galicia called Millán, from Latin villa Aemiliani ‘villa of Aemilianus’. Scottish: shortened form of McMillan.

nickname for an ugly or stupid person, from Spanish mal donado ‘ill-favored’. The phrase is a compound of mal ‘badly’ + donado ‘given’, ‘endowed’, past participle of donare ‘to give’, ‘to bestow’. habitational name from Maldonado, a village in the province of Albacete.

Spanish: nickname for a man with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Spanish bermejo ‘red’, ‘ruddy’ (Late Latin vermiculus, from vermis ‘worm’, since a red dye was obtained from the bodies of worms).

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places in Spain, for example Ballesteros de Calatrava in the province of Ciudad Real, Los Ballesteros (Huelva), Ballesteros (Cuenca), and others no longer identifiable, which were probably so named because of their association with ballesteros ‘crossbowmen’, plural of ballestero, an agent derivative of ballesta ‘crossbow’ (see Ballester).

Spanish, Galician and Portuguese: topographic name for someone who lived in a lean-to built against the wall of a larger building, from Spanish pared, Portuguese and Galician parede ‘(house) wall’. Servants often lived in buildings of this sort outside manor houses, and masons constructed huts of this kind on the site of their labors, making temporary use of the walls of the new building. There are also numerous places named with this word, and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of these.

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

North German and Dutch: from a short form of Thomas. Compare Maas 1 and Mass. Catalan and southern French (Occitan): topographic name for someone who lived in an isolated dwelling in the country, rather than in a village, from Catalan and Occitan mas ‘farmstead’ (Late Latin mansum, mansus).

From Anton, a vernacular form of Latin Antonius (see Anthony) in Spanish (Antón), German, Swedish, Czech (Anton or Anton, short forms of Antonín), and several other languages.

Spanish: from the personal name Bautista, Spanish form of Baptist.

Spanish: from the personal name Juan, Spanish equivalent of John.

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.

Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese: habitational name from Oliva in Valencia, Santa Oliva in Girona, or possibly from any of the places in Extremadura named La Oliva, from Latin oliva ‘olive’. Italian (mainly southern and Ligurian): from Latin oliva ‘olive’; a topographic name for someone who lived by an olive tree or grove, or a metonymic occupational name for a gatherer or seller of olives or an extractor or seller of olive oil, or perhaps in some cases a nickname for someone with a sallow complexion. German: habitational name from Oliva, a place now in Gdansk voivodeship, Poland.

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

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’.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Rodrigo, from Germanic Hrodric (a compound of hrod ‘renown’ + ric ‘power(ful)’); it was borne by the last of the Visigoth kings and is one of the most important Spanish personal names of Germanic origin. This surname is also found in some former Portuguese territories of western India.

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’.

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

Spanish and Italian: from the personal name Marco, from Latin Marcus (see Mark 1). Catalan (Marcó): from the personal name Marc, Latin Marcus (see Marc).

Spanish: habitational name from Cuenca city in Castile, named from cuenca ‘basin’, ‘hollow’ (Latin concha ‘shell’, ‘mussel’).

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’.

Spanish or Portuguese: unexplained.

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.

Catalan: nickname for someone with blond hair or a fair complexion, from Latin russus. Swedish: ornamental name from ros ‘rose’. Slovenian: nickname from the dialect adjective ros ‘russet’, hence denoting a person with russet-colored hair. Compare Rus 2. Slovenian (Roš): probably also a nickname from roš, a reduced form of rovaš ‘stick split lengthwise’, which was used to keep accounts (by scoring or making notches in the wood). Cambodian or other Southeast Asian: unexplained.

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 and Galician: topographic name for someone who lived by a well, pozo (Latin puteus ‘well’, ‘pit’), or habitational name from any of the many places named Pozo, in particular Pozo in Galicia or El Pozo in Asturies, named with pozo ‘well’ (from Latin puteus).

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.

Catalan: from puig ‘hill(ock)’ (Latin podium ‘platform’), hence a topographic name for someone who lived at a high place, or habitational name from any of the numerous places in Catalonia named with this word.

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’).

Ancient Galician and Portuguese surname, and name of villages near Orense, Santander, and Oviedo. Means "lleno de barro," to fill a pit.This word could have two possible meanings: the physical appearance of an individual's face or it could refer to a humid and uncomfortable place.

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.

Spanish, Italian, and Romanian: habitational name from any of the places named in any of these languages with this element. Its meaning is various and disputed; the coincidence in form with Latin alba (feminine) ‘white’ is suggestive, but in many cases the name is pre-Roman and denotes a site on a hill or mountain.

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.

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

Ancient surname found in €oria, Navarre, Aragon, Castile, Estremadura, and Andalusia. Name of village near Osma and province in Spain. Means of or from Soria but origin and meaning unknown."Oria" is a variant of "aurea" and in a figurative sense means charming.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived near an enclosure for livestock, corral. There are numerous places named with this word, in both the singular and plural forms, and to a large extent the surname is a habitational name from these.

nickname for someone with red hair, from rojo ‘red’ (Latin rubeus). habitational name from either of two places in Galicia called Rojo, in A Coruña and Lugo provinces.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places called Arenas, from the plural of arena ‘sand’ (Latin (h)arena).

Spanish: from cabello ‘hair’ (Latin capillus, a collective noun), applied as a nickname for a man with a particularly luxuriant growth of hair, or perhaps ironically for a bald man.

Spanish: from a personal name (Latin Dominicus meaning ‘of the Lord’, from dominus ‘lord’, ‘master’). This was borne by a Spanish saint (1170–1221) who founded the Dominican order of friars and whose fame added greatly to the popularity of the name, already well established because of its symbolic value.

Spanish: from the medieval personal name Galindo, of predominantly Aragonese origin and distribution, but of unknown etymology.

Spanish (also Sáiz): variant of Sáez (see Saez).

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’.

Spanish: apparently a nickname from aguado ‘watered down’, ‘diluted’. Jewish (Sephardic): borrowing of the Spanish surname.

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

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

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, etc.: from the Latin personal name Lucas (Greek Loukas) ‘man from Lucania’. Lucania is a region of southern Italy thought to have been named in ancient times with a word meaning ‘bright’ or ‘shining’. Compare Lucio. The Christian name owed its enormous popularity throughout Europe in the Middle Ages to St. Luke the Evangelist, hence the development of this surname and many vernacular derivatives in most of the languages of Europe. Compare Luke. This is also found as an Americanized form of Greek Loukas. Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lùcais (see McLucas).

Spanish (Ramón), Portuguese, and Catalan: from the personal name Ramón or Ramon, of Germanic origin (see Raymond).

Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish (Sephardic and Ashkenazic): nickname from Portuguese, Spanish, Italian caro ‘dear’, ‘beloved’ (Latin carus). In medieval Italy this was also a personal name. Italian (Sicily; Carò): variant of Carrò (see Carro).

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: possibly of the same derivation as 2. Italian: from the personal name Polo, a variant of Paolo (see Paul).

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.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the various places named Villalba, from villa ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + albo, feminine alba ‘white’ (Latin alba).

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 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: 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.)

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).

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.

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).

English, Scottish, Welsh, and German: from the Old French personal name Olivier, which was taken to England by the Normans from France. It was popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages as having been borne by one of Charlemagne’s paladins, the faithful friend of Roland, about whose exploits there were many popular romances. The name ostensibly means ‘olive tree’ (see Oliveira), but this is almost certainly the result of folk etymology working on an unidentified Germanic personal name, perhaps a cognate of Alvaro. The surname is also borne by Jews, apparently as an adoption of the non-Jewish surname. Catalan and southern French (Occitan): generally a topographic name from oliver ‘olive tree’, but in some instances possibly related to the homonymous personal name (see 1 above).

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

Muslim: variant of Muhammad. See also Mohammed.

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).

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

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

Catalan: nickname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from roig ‘ruddy’, ‘red’ (Latin rubeus).

Catalan and southern French: from the personal name Andreu, Catalan and Occitan form of Andreas.

Spanish: ethnic name for someone from Castile. Italian: status names from castellano (Latin castellanus), denoting the governor or constable of a castle, the lord of the manor, or the warder of a prison.

Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese: from the personal name Clemente (see Clement).

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.

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

Italian and Catalan: from rosa ‘rose’ (Latin rosa), applied in part as a topographic name for someone who lived where wild roses grew, in part as a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a rose, and in part as a nickname for someone with a pink, rosy complexion. Portuguese and Spanish: in most cases a short form of a name such as (de la) Rosa (Spanish) or (da) Rosa (Portuguese), or occasionally from the female personal name Rosa. Polish and Czech: from the vocabulary word rosa ‘dew’, ‘juice’, ‘sap’, applied as a nickname.

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 the personal name Hernando, variant of Fernando.

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.

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.

Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Riera or La Riera, from Catalan riera ‘stream’ (Late Latin rivaria). There are various places in northern Spain named with this word, for example in the province of Tarragona, and the surname may also be a habitational name from any of these.

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

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Alcaraz, in Albacete province, derived perhaps from the ancient Alcaratium Orcia, or possibly from Arabic al ‘the’ + karaz ‘cherry’.

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.

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).

from a variant of the medieval nickname Calvo ‘bald’ (from Latin calvus). habitational name from any of various minor places. They may have been named from the same word as in 1, referring to a bare and treeless appearance, or alternatively from Late Latin cova ‘hollow’.

Catalan (Domènech): respelling of the personal name Domènec, Catalan form of Dominick.

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: 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.

English (of Norman origin): nickname for a man with dark hair or a swarthy complexion, from a diminutive of Anglo-Norman French carbon ‘charcoal’. Catalan and southern French: from a personal name, Carbonellus, derived from Latin carbo ‘coal’, ‘charcoal’.

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

Spanish: from the personal name Llorente, vernacular form of Latin Florentius (see Florence).

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

Catalan (Solà): habitational name from any of the minor places called Solà in Catalonia, or topographic name from Catalan solà, ‘place exposed to the sun’. This is a very common Catalan name. Portuguese and Catalan: possibly an occupational nickname for a shoemaker, from sola ‘sole (of a shoe)’.

Spanish (Velázquez): variant of Velasquez.

Spanish, Catalan and Galician: of uncertain derivation; it could be from the pre-Roman personal name Vela (compare Basque bela, vela ‘raven’). More likely perhaps, it may be a byname from vela meaning either ‘sail’ or ‘watchman’. Spanish: habitational name from a place name Vela, in Córdoba province. Portuguese: habitational name from a place named Vela in Portugal. Czech: from a pet form of either of two personal names, Velislav or Velimir.

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.

“Lion” in Sanskrit (Sinha). Hence Singapore - “City of the Lion”.

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’).

Spanish and southern Italian: from the personal name Alfonso, the name of a number of Spanish and Portuguese kings. It derives from the Visigothic personal name Adelfonsus, composed of the elements hathu ‘war’ + funs ‘ready’.

Southern French and Catalan: topographic name for someone living near a spring or well, Occitan and Catalan font (Latin fons, genitive fontis).

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

Catalan and Spanish: habitational name from Requena in Valencia or Requena de Campos in Palencia, apparently so called from a short form of the various Visigothic compound personal names with the first element ric ‘power(ful)’, with the addition of the locative suffix -ena.

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.

Catalan and southern French (Estève): from the personal name Esteve, Catalan and Occitan vernacular form of Latin Stephanus (see Steven). In some cases, possibly Portuguese, an old variant of Estévão, cognate with 1.

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

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.

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

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: 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.

Dutch and North German: topographic name from Middle Dutch bussch, meaning ‘wood’ rather than ‘bush’, also found in place names, such as ’s Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc). German (Bösch): see Boesch. Catalan: habitational name from a place named with Bosc(h), from Late Latin boscus ‘wood’.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with gray hair or a gray beard, from German grau ‘gray’. Southern French: topographic name for someone who lived near a canal giving access to the sea, Occitan grau (Latin gradus ‘step’). French: from Old French grau denoting a type of agricultural fork with curved tines (apparently of Germanic origin), hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker, seller, or user of such implements. Catalan: topographic name from grau (Latin gradum). Catalan: from a reduced form of the common medieval personal name Guerau (see Gerald).

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

Spanish (Peláez): patronymic from the personal name Pelayo.

Catalan: occupational name for a maker of crossbows or a soldier armed with a crossbow, from Catalan ballester ‘crossbowman’ or ‘crossbow maker’, an agent derivative of ballesta ‘crossbow’ (Latin ballista ‘(military) catapult’). English and German: occupational name, cognate with 1, from an agent derivative of Middle English, Old French baleste ‘crossbow’.

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

Galician and Portuguese: common topographic name for someone who lived by a forge or iron workings, from Latin ferraria ‘forge’, ‘iron working’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places in southern Spain (Alacant, Ciudad Real, Jaen, Badajoz, and Cadiz) named Perea.

Portuguese (Luís) and Spanish: from the personal name Luís or Luis, from French Louis.

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 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.

Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, southern French (Occitan), and Romanian: from sala ‘hall’, hence a topographic name or an occupational name for someone employed at a hall or manor house. Both the Italian and Catalan names may also be of habitational origin: in the case of Italian, from (amongst others) Sala Biellese (Biella province), Sala Consilina (Salerno province), and Sala Monferrato (Alessandria), and in the case of Catalan from places called Sala or La Sala. This name is very common in Catalonia. Spanish, Asturian-Leonese, and Aragonese: in some cases, habitational name from places called Sala (Asturies and Aragón) or La Sala (Asturies). Hungarian: from a short form of the Biblical name Salamon (see Solomon). Muslim: variant of Salah.

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’.

Spanish: regional name for someone from Castile (Spanish Castilla) in Spain. An independent kingdom between the 10th and 15th centuries, it formed the largest power in the Iberian peninsula. The name derives from the many castles in the region.

Spanish: occupational name for a stonemason, cantero.

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.

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.

Portuguese ((da) Câmara) and Spanish (Cámara): from cámara ‘(main) room’ (from Latin camera), hence an occupational name for a courtier or servant who had access to the private living quarters of a king or noble.

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

Spanish, Portuguese, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian: habitational name from any of numerous places called Belmonte (‘beautiful mountain’), especially one in Portugal and another in Cuenca province, Spain.

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.

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.

Spanish: habitational name from Baena in Córdoba province.

Spanish: habitational name from what is now Spain’s principal city. Throughout the Middle Ages it was of only modest size and importance, and did not become the capital of Spain until 1561. Its name is of uncertain origin, most probably a derivative of Late Latin matrix, genitive matricis ‘riverbed’, much changed by Arabic mediation. Compare Madrigal. There are other, smaller places of the same name in the provinces of Burgos and Santander, and these may also be sources of the surname.

English: from a reduced form of the personal name Nicholas. Scottish or Irish: reduced form of McColl. Catalan: topographic name from coll ‘mountain pass’, from Latin collis ‘hill’. Americanized spelling of German Koll or Kohl.

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.

Galician and Spanish: habitational name from any of the places in Galicia named Pino, from pino ‘pine’, or topographic name for somebody who lived by a remarkable pine tree. Italian: habitational name from Pino d’Asti in Asti province, Pino Torinese in Torino, or Pino Solitario in Taranto, all named with pino ‘pine’. Italian: from the personal name Pino, a short form Giuseppino (from Giuseppe), Filippino (from Filippo), Jacopino (from Jacopo), or some other pet name formed with this suffix.

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 (Rincón): habitational name from any of the numerous places named Rincón or El Rincón, from rincón ‘corner’ (Old Spanish re(n)cón, from Arabic rukún).

Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, and southern French: nickname for a man noted for his beard, from barba ‘beard’ (Latin barba). Italian: from a byname from a southern dialect word meaning ‘uncle’ (from Latin barba ‘beard’ via Lombardic barba, barbane), as characterizing a man of wisdom and authority. Greek: see Barbas. Slovenian: unexplained. This name comes from the Brkini region in southwestern Slovenia.

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

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic name for someone living by a lake, from lago ‘lake’ (from Latin lacus), or habitational name from any of the many places named with this word.

Portuguese: patronymic from the personal name Marcos. Southern French (Occitan), Catalan (Marquès), and Spanish (Marqués): from marqués ‘marquis’, from the French word, either a nickname for someone who behaved like a marquis or an occupational nickname for a servant in the household of a marquis.

Spanish: habitational name from places in the provinces of Palencia and Segovia called Cobos (see Cobo 2).

Spanish (Nicolás), French, Dutch, Greek, etc: from the personal name Nicolas, the usual spelling of Greek Nikolaos in many languages (see Nicholas). English (common in Wales): variant spelling of Nicholas.

Spanish: nickname for a squat, thickset man, from cuadrado ‘square’ (Latin quadratus, past participle of quadrare ‘to form a square’).

Catalan and Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places called Cervera, from Late Latin cervaria ‘place of stags’ (a derivative of cervus ‘stag’).

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

Catalan: habitational name from Valls in Tarragona province, so named from valls, plural of vall ‘valley’.

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

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

Catalan: topographic name for someone who lived at a high place, from pujol, a diminutive of puig ‘hill’, ‘hillock’ (Latin podiolum), or habitational name from any of the numerous places in Catalonia named with this word (see Puig).

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

Found in Galicia and Portugal. Village name Barreiros near Mondonedo derived from same source. Galician variation of surname Barbara, or Barber.This is a variation of the word "barrero" which refers to the trade of potter.See Barrera.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Puente, from puente ‘bridge’.

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).

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

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.

One who came from La Torre (the tower), the name of several places in Spain; dweller near the tower or spire.An Aragonese name.See De la Torre, Torres.

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 (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.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places called Castellanos, denoting a ‘place founded or inhabited by Castilians’. Greek (Kastellanos): topographic name from an adjectival derivative of kastello ‘castle’ (from Late Latin castellum, a diminutive of castrum ‘fort’, ‘Roman walled city’).

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).

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.

Basque: Castilianized variant of Basque Bergara, a habitational name from places so called (earlier Virgara) in the provinces of Gipuzkoa and Navarre. The place name is of uncertain derivation; the second element is gara ‘hill’, ‘height’, ‘eminence’, but the first has not been satisfactorily identified.

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic name for someone who lived by an area paved with flagstones, Spanish losada (from losar ‘to pave’, a derivative of losa, a word of pre-Roman origin, meaning a flat stone slab).

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.

Italian and Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named with campo ‘field’, ‘country(side)’, a derivative of Latin campus ‘plain’. Possibly a respelling of French Campeau.

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

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

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’.

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

Spanish: habitational name from the city of this name in central Spain. The place name is of uncertain origin (possibly based on a Celtic element sego ‘victory’).

Variant of Spanish González (see Gonzalez).

Spanish: nickname from Spanish ruano, which denoted someone with reddish hair (compare Ruan), or alternatively a street dweller.

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places, for example in Hervás and Cáceres provinces, named Cerezo, from cerezo ‘cherry tree’ (from Latin cerasus).

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

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’.

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

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

English: from Middle English, Old French faucon, falcun ‘falcon’, either a metonymic occupational name for a falconer, or a nickname for someone thought to resemble the falcon, which was regarded as a symbol of speed and courage in the Middle Ages. In a few cases, it may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a man who operated the piece of artillery named after the bird of prey. Compare Faulkner. In Louisiana, the name Falcón is borne by the descendants of Canary Islanders brought in to settle in 1779.

Spanish (Catalán): regional name for someone from Catalonia (Spanish Cataluña).

Spanish (Alcántara): habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Cáceres, Cádiz, or Castilianized form of Catalan Alcàntera, habitational name from a town in Valencia, all of them named from Arabic al ‘the’ + qan?tara ‘bridge’.

Spanish: habitational name from Arjona in Jaén province.

Of undetermined geographic origin, name derives from word "borra" meaning "cordero," or an infant lamb, particularly a male lamb which is not yet mature.Galician name. One branch in Castile and Estremadura. Another branch in Jerez de los Caballeros with the Reconquest.

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: occupational name for a barber-surgeon (see Barber), Spanish barbero, from Late Latin barbarius, a derivative of barba ‘beard’ (Latin barba).

Spanish: habitational name from Toro in Zamora province, called Campos Gotorum in the Middle Ages. Spanish: nickname from toro ‘bull’ (usually in the form Del Toro). Italian: nickname for a lusty person or a metonymic occupational name for a tender of bulls, from Italian toro ‘bull’ (Latin taurus). Italian: from a short form of the personal name Ristoro. Estonian or Finnish: unexplained.

Castilianized form of Basque Aritza, a topographic name from Basque (h)aritz ‘oak’ + the article suffix -a. Spanish: habitational name from a place so named in Zaragoza province in Aragón.

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.

Galician and Portuguese: occupational name for a smith or worker in iron.

The rivers Quindío and Barragán are born in the foothills of the Quindío Volcano in Salento (at more than 4,000 meters above sea level) and in Genoa (at 3,000m.s.n.m) respectively. Once formed, at the site called Maravelez, La Vieja runs as a boundary through the departments of Quindio, Valle del Cauca and Risaralda.

Spanish (also Sáinz): variant of Saenz.

Spanish: from peinado ‘combed’ (past participle of peinar ‘to comb’), hence a nickname for a well-groomed person or for someone with naturally smooth rather than curly hair.

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.

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 Morillo de Monclús in Uesca province, from a diminutive of moro ‘Moor’.

Spanish: occupational name for a collector or seller of honey, melero (Late Latin mellarius, an agent derivative of mel, genitive mellis, ‘honey’).

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Jorge, a borrowing of French (and English) George.

topographic name from Old English sol ‘muddy place’, or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word, as for example Soles in Kent. nickname for an unmarried man or woman, from Middle English, Old French soul ‘single’, ‘unmarried’ (Latin solus ‘alone’). Catalan (Solé): variant of Soler.

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

Asturian-Leonese: habitational name from one of the places called Llamas in Asturies, apparently named with llama ‘mud’ (plural llamas). Compare Lamas. Spanish: possibly a nickname from the plural of Spanish llama ‘flame’.

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

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Galicia: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Real; those in Galicia and Portugal being named from real ‘royal’, while those in southern Spain and Catalonia are named in part from real meaning ‘encampment’, ‘rural property’ (Arabic ra?hal ‘farmhouse’, ‘cabin’). French (Réal) and Spanish: from southern French réal, Spanish real ‘royal’, hence a nickname for someone who behaved in a regal manner or an occupational name for someone in the service of the king. French (Réal): habitational name from any of various places named for having been part of a royal domain (see Reau, Reaux). Probably an Americanized spelling of German Riehl, Riel, or Rühl (see Ruehl).

The surname Berríos is consider to be a locational in origin. Research indicates that it can be associated with the Spanish surname Berríos. It comes from barrio or barr, meaning: new sections of a town, or districts. For this reason the name Berríos comes from the name of four towns in the Northern Spain: the Vasca region of Vizcaya and Navarra.

Spanish and Portuguese: from duque ‘duke’ (from Latin dux, genitive ducis ‘leader’), an occupational name for someone who worked in the household of a duke, or as a nickname for someone who gave himself airs and graces. French (also Duqué): nickname from duquet, a diminutive of French duc ‘duke’ (see Duchon).

Spanish: habitational name, probably from Espejo in Córdoba province, or otherwise from one of the minor places so named in Málaga and Araba provinces; the place name is evidently connected with espejo ‘mirror’ (Latin speculum).

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from lobato ‘wolf cub’ or from a medieval personal name based on this word. Compare Italian Lovato..

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.

Spanish: probably a nickname for someone with long limbs, from Spanish tirado ‘stretched’ (past participle of tirar ‘to pull’).

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

Spanish: from a pet form of the nickname Gordo, from Spanish gordo ‘fat’ (Late Latin gurdus, of uncertain origin).

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

Portuguese and Spanish: occupational name from criado ‘servant’.

Spanish (Galván): from a medieval personal name. This is in origin the Latin name Galbanus (a derivative of the Roman family name Galba, of uncertain origin). However, it was used in a number of medieval romances as an equivalent of the Celtic name Gawain (see Gavin), and it is probably this association that was mainly responsible for its popularity in the Middle Ages.

Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese: nickname for someone of large stature, in either a literal or figurative sense, from grande ‘tall’, ‘large’. German: habitational name from Grande in Holstein or Grand in Bavaria. Norwegian: habitational name from any of several farmsteads so named, from Old Norse grandi ‘sandbank’.

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

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.

Catalan: topographic name from pla ‘plain’, ‘plateau’, denoting someone who lived on an area of flat ground, or habitational name from any of the numerous places named Pla, (from Latin planum ‘plain’, ‘plateau’).

habitational name from places called Lloréns in the provinces of Tarragona and Lleida. possibly also a variant spelling of the personal name Lloren¸, a vernacular form of Latin Laurentius (see Lawrence.

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: from dorado ‘golden’ (from Late Latin deaurare ‘to gild’, from aurum ‘gold’), probably applied as a nickname to someone with golden hair.

Portuguese and Galician: occupational name for a friar, or a nickname for a pious person or someone employed at a monastery, from Latin frater ‘brother’.

Spanish: habitational name for someone from Moya, from an adjectival form of the place name.

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

Catalan: habitational name from any of the places called Tena or with Tena, or metonymic occupational name from Catalan tena ‘tent’, ‘booth’, ‘stall’ (Spanish tienda).

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

Spanish: nickname for someone with a notably pink and white complexion, from Spanish rosado ‘pink’, Late Latin rosatus, a derivative of rosa (see Rose).

Spanish: topographic name from a diminutive of Calle ‘street’.

Spanish (Frías) and Portuguese: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Burgos and Teruel, so called from the feminine plural form of the adjective frío ‘cold’ (Latin frigidus); a noun such as aguas ‘waters’ or fuentes ‘springs’ has been lost.

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: 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.

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.

Italian (Piedmont and Liguria): variant of Ferraro. Catalan (Ferreró): from a diminutive of Ferrer.

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 any of the places named Olmedo in Burgos and Valladolid provinces, from olmedo ‘stand of elm trees’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Huerta, from huerta ‘vegetable garden’ (Latin hortus). This is also a Sephardic Jewish surname.

Catalan: from a medieval personal name, from a diminutive of bon ‘good’. French: variant of Bonnet (mainly 2).

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places named La Serna, from serna ‘grainfield’ (of Celtic origin).

Spanish and Catalan: from alcalde ‘mayor’, from Arabic al-qa?di ‘the judge’, a title dating from the days of Moorish rule in Spain.

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.

Spanish: topographic name for someone living near a spring or well, fuente, with the definite article la.

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

Muslim: variant spelling of Ahmad.

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.

Galician and Portuguese: probably a habitational name from any of the places in Galicia and Portugal named Mira. Catalan: of uncertain origin; possibly from the Arabic personal name Amira, or a derivative of Mir. Italian: apparently from the personal name Mira, feminine form of Miro, from Late Latin Mirus and Mira, respectively, from Latin mirus ‘wonderful’, ‘marvellous’. Czech and Polish: from a pet form of any of various personal names formed with the element mir ‘peace’, ‘quiet’, ‘esteem’ (see Mir).

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places named Salcedo, so named from a collective form of salce ‘willow tree’. Compare Salce. Spanish: Castilianized variant of Basque Saratsu, a habitational name from a town so named, in Araba, Basque Country.

Spanish: unexplained.

Portuguese: habitational name from any of various places called Brito. The place name is probably related to the root britt-. Compare Breton.

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 (Alcalá): habitational name from any of the numerous fortified villages named during the Moorish occupation of Spain with Arabic al ‘the’ + qal?ah ‘fortress’.

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).

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

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)).

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

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’).

A surname of Jewish descent, denotes a characteristic of the profession who performed some young people in the Middle Ages, called the garzoneria, its purpose was to serve their lords caballeros. The meaning is similar to that used in France: "Garçon" handsome young man but servant for example it is used to call the waiter.

Spanish form (Páez) of Portuguese and Galician Pais.

Italian (mainly Tuscany and northern Italy) and Spanish: from olmo ‘elm’, Latin ulmus, topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous elm tree, or a habitational name from a place named Olmo, from the same word.

Chinese : the origin of this name goes back 4500 years to a grandson of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), surnamed Hui. Hui invented bows and arrows, and was put in charge of their production. In honor of his deeds, he was given as surname the character pronounced Zhang, which is composed of the symbols for ‘bow’ and ‘long’, meaning to ‘stretch open a bow’. Zhang has now become one of the most common names in China. Chinese : from the name of an area called Zhang in present-day Shandong province. During the Western Zhou dynasty (1122–771 bc) a fief was made of this area. It was later conquered by the state of Qi; at that time the former rulers of conquered states were not allowed to take the name of their state as their surname. The former ruling class of Zhang fortunately were able to drop off a small portion of the character for Zhang and still leave another character also pronounced Zhang. This modified character became their surname.

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’.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in the province of Logroño, so called from a North Castilian form of Spanish faro ‘beacon’. French (Normandy): metonymic occupational name for a peddler, from an Old French cry used to hail someone or to attract attention.

Spanish: from a nickname based on valiente ‘brave’.

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’.

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

Spanish: either a nickname for someone with a big head, from cabeza ‘head’ (Late Latin capitia), or a topographic name from any of the numerous minor places named with this word, which was commonly used to denote a small hill.

Spanish (Bartolomé): from the personal name Bartolomé, Spanish form of Bartholomew.

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

Catalan: variant of Ribes, habitational name from any of the places called with Ribes, from Catalan ribes, the plural of riba ‘bank’ (see Riba). Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named with Ribas, from the plural of riba ‘bank’.

Portuguese: variant of Alfonso.

Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Catalonia called Prats, from the plural of prat ‘meadow’ (from Latin pratum). Compare Spanish Prados.

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

Spanish: nickname from mellado ‘nicked’, for someone who missed one or more teeth, from mellar ‘to nick’.

Spanish: from palomino ‘squab’, ‘young pigeon’, a derivative of paloma ‘dove’.

Portuguese and Spanish: status name from old Spanish and Portuguese maestre ‘master’, ‘master craftsman’, ‘teacher’ (Latin magister).

Spanish: variant (plural) of Palomar.

Catalan (Barceló): apparently from a personal name Barcelonus (feminine Barcelona), originally denoting someone from the city of Barcelona (see Barcelona).

Spanish, Catalan (Garcés), and Portuguese (Garcês): variant of the patronymic Garciez, from the personal name García (see Garcia).

Spanish: probably a habitational name from Montesinos in Murcia province or Los Montesinos in Badajoz or Alacant.

Surname common in Vizcaya, and name of principal city there. Meaning unknown.Bilbao could mean the "desembocadura del río," or the mouth of the river.Basque name of toponymic origin. Members belonged to Order of Santiago.

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.

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

Spanish: habitational name from the city so named.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived in an alley, Spanish calle (from Latin callis). French: variant of Calé (see Cale).

Italian: from castello ‘castle’, ‘fortified building’ (from Late Latin castellum), applied as a topographic name, a habitational name from any of numerous places so named or named with this word, or a metonymic occupational name for a servant who lived and worked in such a place. Catalan (Castelló): habitational name from any of the places named Castelló or with that word, as for example Castelló de la Plana, one of the main towns in Valencia, or Castelló d’Empúries, a town in the Catalan district of L’Empordà.

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: habitational name from a place in the province of Seville, named from Arabic Oxuna, perhaps from Late Latin Ursina (villa) ‘estate of Ursus’, a byname meaning ‘bear’.

Spanish: habitational name from the city of Zaragoza in northeast Spain, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Aragon. The name derives, via Arabic, from Latin Caesarea Augusta, the name bestowed in the 1st century ad by the Emperor Augustus.

Spanish: topographic name for someone living by a crossroads, from the plural of carrera ‘thoroughfare’ (see Carrera).

Spanish: habitational name from a place of this name in the province of Jaén.

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Ceballos, a district of Santander.

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

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

Catalan: patronymic from the Catalan personal name Pere, Catalan equivalent of Peter (compare Perez). Greek: variant of Perris.

Spanish: from the personal name Felipe, Spanish form of Philip.

Spanish (Vílchez): variant of Vilches.

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: habitational name from any of the places named Perales, from the plural of peral ‘plantation of pear trees’, ‘pear orchard’, a derivative of pera ‘pear’.

Spanish and Italian: from the personal name Urbano (see Urban), or a nickname from urbano ‘urbane’, ‘elegant’.

Catalan: occupational name from fuster ‘carpenter’.

Spanish: habitational name from Pareja in Guadalajara province.

Spanish and Portuguese: nickname from alegre ‘bright’, ‘merry’ (Latin alacer).

Catalan and southern French (Occitan): from the personal name Nadal, from nadal ‘Christmas’ (from Latin natalis ‘birthday’). Compare Noel.

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.

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

Spanish (Chávez): variant spelling of Chaves.

Spanish: probably a habitational name from a place named Tejada, most likely the one in Burgos province but possibly the one in Huelva province, so named from a derivative of teja ‘(roof) tile’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places called Campillo, from a diminutive of campo ‘field’, ‘country(side)’ (see Campo).

French, Spanish (Gascón), and English: regional name for someone from the province of Gascony, Old French Gascogne (see Gascoigne).

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

Catalan, Galician and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Vilar, which are named from vilar ‘village’ or ‘(outlying) farmstead’, a derivative of vila ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’; or topographic name for someone who lived in a vilar. Slovenian (central Slovenia): from an agent noun derived from vile ‘hayfork’, ‘dungfork’, either a nickname or perhaps an occupational name for a fork maker. It may also be a variant spelling of the surname Vilhar, a medieval derivative of the German personal name Wilhelm.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Montoro, in particular those in Córdoba or Teruel provinces. Italian: habitational name from any of the places called Montoro, in particular Montoro Inferiore and Montoro Superiore in Avellino province.

German, Spanish (Sebastián), and southern French (Sébastian): from the personal name Sebastian, Latin Sebastianus. This was originally an ethnic name meaning ‘man from Sebastia’, a city in Pontus named from Greek sebastos ‘revered’ (the Greek equivalent of Augustus). This surname is also sometimes born by Jews, presumably as an adoption of the German surname.

Spanish: habitational name from Valera in Cuenca province and possibly also from a place with the same name in Badajoz.

Spanish: habitational name from any of several places called Arcos or Los Arcos, with reference to their arches or arcades.

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.

Catalan: habitational name from a place in northern Catalonia, the site of a famous medieval monastery, originally named with the Latin elements rivus ‘stream’ + pullus ‘dark gray’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places called Ledesma, in the provinces of Logroño, Salamanca, and Soria. The place name is ancient and probably derives from a superlative form of a Celtic adjective meaning ‘broad’, ‘wide’.

Spanish (Enríquez): patronymic from Enrique.

Spanish, Catalan, and Portuguese: topographic name, from a derivative of Late Latin casale ‘hut’, ‘cottage’.

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.

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, 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).

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.

nickname for someone with gray hair or for a person who dressed in gray, from an Italianized form of Old French ferrand ‘iron gray’. from a Late Latin personal name Ferrandus, which was either a variant of Ferdinand or a byname meaning ‘gray’.

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’.

Spanish: from armas ‘arms’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of arms or a soldier.

Possibly a variant of French Ferré (see Ferree). Catalan (Ferré): respelling of Catalan Ferrer, from ferrer ‘smith’, reflecting the pronounciation.

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

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

Catalan (Pallarès): regional name for someone from Pallars, a region in the Catalan Pyrenees. Galician: habitational name from a place in Galicia named Pallares, from a derivative of Galician palla ‘straw’.

English (Lancashire): variant spelling of Mayer 1. Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): nickname for an older man or a distinguishing epithet for the elder of two bearers of the same personal name, from Spanish mayor ‘older’ (Latin maior (natus), literally ‘greater (by birth)’). Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): occupational or status name, from major ‘governor’, ‘chief’. Catalan: variant spelling of Major. Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Meyer 2.

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.

Basque: habitational name from any of various places in Biscay and Araba named Zabala, from Basque zabal ‘large’, ‘broad’ + the definite article -a. In some cases the surname may have arisen as a nickname from the same word.

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

Spanish: ethnic name from moro ‘Moor’. Italian: variant of Mauro.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the towns called Veiga in Galicia and Portugal, from veiga ‘meadow’, Portuguese and Galician equivalent of Spanish Vega.

Basque: habitational name from any of several places in the province of Biscay named with arte ‘holm oak’ + the locative suffix -aga ‘place or group of’.

Italian: patronymic from a short form of the medieval personal name Ademaro, Adimaro, derived from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements adal ‘noble’ + mari, meri ‘famous’. In southern Italy, it is more often from a short form of Amari, or a nickname from amaro, amaru, also maru ‘unlucky’. Italian: patronymic from the personal name Mario. Catalan (Marí): occupational name from marí ‘mariner’ or nickname for someone who lived by the sea. Hungarian: from the personal name Mári, a pet form of Márton (see Martin) or Márkus (see Mark), or of the female name Mária (see Maria).

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.

Spanish and Portuguese: from an old personal name, Abril, based on the name of the month (from Latin Aprilis, ‘April’). Compare April.

English, French, North German, Danish, Catalan, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, etc.: from the personal name Albert, composed of the Germanic elements adal ‘noble’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. The standard German form is Albrecht. This, in its various forms, was one of the most popular of all European male personal names in the Middle Ages. It was borne by various churchmen, notably St. Albert of Prague, a Bohemian prince who died a martyr in 997 attempting to convert the Prussians to Christianity; also St. Albert the Great (?1193–1280), an Aristotelian theologian and tutor of Thomas Aquinas. It was also the name of princes and military leaders, such as Albert the Bear (1100–70), Margrave of Brandenburg. In more recent times it has been adopted as a Jewish family name.

Catalan (Català): regional name for a Catalan, someone from Catalonia (Catalan Catalunya).

Spanish: habitational name from places called Tamayo in the provinces of Burgos and Albacete.

English, French, German, Polish, and Slovenian; Spanish and Hungarian (Jordán): from the Christian baptismal name Jordan. This is taken from the name of the river Jordan (Hebrew Yarden, a derivative of yarad ‘to go down’, i.e. to the Dead Sea). At the time of the Crusades it was common practice for crusaders and pilgrims to bring back flasks of water from the river in which John the Baptist had baptized people, including Christ himself, and to use it in the christening of their own children. As a result Jordan became quite a common personal name.

Spanish, Galician, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the places called Prados, from the plural of prado ‘meadow’ (see Prado).

Spanish and Portuguese: habitational name from any of numerous places in Galicia in Spain and northern Portugal named Fraga, or, less likely, from the place so named in Uesca province, Aragon; all are named from fraga ‘steep cliff’.

Taboa, in the Galician language, means 'table' (of wood). Thus, Taboada means 'long table' (of wood).

Spanish (Tenerife; Padrón): in some cases a variant of Catalan Padró (see Padro); otherwise from the Spanish equivalent padrón, a variant of patrón ‘master’. Galician: habitational name from Padrón, a town in Galicia.

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

Chinese : from the name of the area of Ye, in present-day Henan province. During the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), a senior military adviser of the state of Chu was killed in battle; his son was granted the area of Ye, with the title Duke of Ye. The Duke of Ye was successful in battle, and his descendants adopted the place name Ye as their surname. Korean: variant of Yi.

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: possibly from the Occitan personal name Aimeric (in southern France), composed of the Germanic elements haim ‘homeland’, ‘village’ + ric ‘power’.

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’).

Spanish (from Basque): habitational name from Maya del Baztán in Navarre province, from Basque Amaiur. Catalan: variant spelling of Maià, habitational name from Maià de Montcal and other places (see Maia)

Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Ribera, from ribera ‘bank’, ‘shore’ (from Late Latin riparia). This is also found as a (southern) Italian surname, of the same derivation.

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

Portuguese and Spanish: habitational name from any of a number of places so named in Portugal or from Almeida in Zamora province, Spain, all named from Arabic as al-medina ‘the city’. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: nickname for a mild, inoffensive person, from manso ‘tame’, ‘docile’ (Late Latin mansus, classical Latin mansuetus ‘tamed’, literally ‘accustomed to the hand’).

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.

Chinese : from the name of the ancient state of Xu. The model emperor Yu (2205–2198 bc) granted this state to one of his retainers. The retainer’s family governed the state from this time on until the Western Zhou dynasty (1122–771 bc), when the Xu prince of the time believed it to be God’s will that he should oppose the Zhou dynasty, on account of a prophecy associated with a red bow and arrow that he pulled out of a river. The Zhou king, Mu Wang, was far away to the west in the Kunlun mountains, but raced back to confront and defeat the Xu prince (see Chao 1). Mu Wang then granted the state of Xu to the defeated prince’s son, giving him the ‘style name’ of Xu. Descendants of this new ruler eventually adopted Xu as their surname. Chinese : this name goes back as far as the 23rd century bc. According to tradition, there existed a philosopher named Xu You, who was offered succession to the throne by the model emperor Yao. Having heard this proposal, Xu You washed his ears in a river to rid them of such defilement. The main stock of this name probably came later, however, when Wu Wang, the first king (1122–1116 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, granted the area of Xu in present-day Henan province to Wen Shu, a descendant of Bo Yi, adviser to the model emperor Shun (who coincidentally accepted the offer of power which Xu You had declined). The descendants of Wen Shu eventually adopted the name of the area of Xu as their surname.

Spanish (Álvaro) and Portuguese: from the personal name Álvaro, which is of Germanic (Visigothic) origin, although the exact etymology is not clear.

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.

Spanish (Morón): habitational name from Morón de Almazán in Soria province or Morón de la Frontera in Seville. The former, and possibly the latter also, is probably named from Arabic maurûr ‘hidden’, from the past participle of wárrà ‘to hide or bury’. Spanish (Morón): in some cases, from a derivative of moro ‘Moor’. French: possibly from the old personal name Maurone. French: possibly in some cases a nickname from Old French moron ‘dreamer’.

Spanish (Diéguez): patronymic from the personal name Diego.

Spanish (Tenerife): apparently a derivative of the local place name La Perdoma, the seat of the town council of La Orotava, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canaries).

Dweller in a damp place, or on land which is newly cultivated.Ancient Galician and Portuguese surname, and name of villages near Orense, Santander, and Oviedo. Means "lleno de barro," to fill a pit."Barro" could refer to a humid place or land that is plowed.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Soria province.

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic name for someone who lived by a fortified stronghold, from mot(t)a, a borrowing from Old French motte (see Motte 1). Spanish: habitational name from places in the provinces of Cuenca and Valladolid named Mota. Catalan: topographic name from mota ‘hillock’, denoting someone who lived by a hillock. Catalan: habitational name from places in Girona and Valencia.

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Galician: habitational name from any of numerous places named Pedrosa, from pedroso, pedrosa ‘stoney’, an adjectival derivative of pedra ‘stone’.

Catalan: regional name from the district of La Segarra, or habitational name from any of the places named with Segarra or La Segarra in Catalonia and Valencia.

Spanish: from the personal name Diego, which is of uncertain derivation. It was early taken to be a reduced form of Santiago, and is commonly taken by English speakers as being a form of James, but this is no more than folk etymology. It is found in the Middle Ages in the Latin forms Didacus and Didagus, which Meyer-Lübke derived from Greek didakhe ‘doctrine’, ‘teaching’, but in view of the fact that it is unknown outside the Iberian Peninsula it may possibly have a pre-Roman origin.

Spanish: habitational name from Villena, a town in southeastern Spain.

Spanish: habitational name probably from Cifuentes in Guadalajara, named from Spanish cien ‘hundred’ (Latin centum) + fuentes ‘springs’ (Latin fontes (see Font), because of the abundance of natural springs in the area).

Spanish: habitational name from Lucena in Andalusia.

Spanish: habitational name from either of two places named Nogales: in Badajoz and Málaga provinces.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Villaverde, from villa ‘(outlying) farm’, ‘(dependent) settlement’ + verde ‘green’, or a Castilianized spelling of the Galician cognate Vilaverde.

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Guadalajara province named Atienza.

Catalan (Miró): from the medieval personal name Mir, Mirone, of Germanic origin.

Chinese : from the name of the state of Liu, which was granted to a descendant of the model emperor Yao (2357–2257 bc). Chinese : variant of Liao. Chinese : from the name of an area called Liu Xia in the state of Lu (in present-day Shanxi province). During the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc), this was granted to a counselor famous for his high moral character. His descendants adopted the name of this area as their surname.

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

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

Galician and Spanish: possibly a habitational name from Raya in Galicia or in Albacete and Murcia provinces. Spanish: possibly a topographic name from Spanish raya ‘line’, denoting the boundary between two countries or provinces.

Catalan (Macià): variant of the personal name Maties. Spanish (Macía): variant of Macías (see Macias).

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

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Francisco (see Francis).

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

Portuguese and Galician (Míguez): patronymic from Miguel, a reduced form of Miguelez.

Spanish: habitational name from a place called Quevedo, such as Casa de Quevedo in Albacete province.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Robledo, from robledo ‘oak wood’, a derivative of roble ‘oak’.

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).

Spanish: variant (plural) of Mata 1. Catalan: variant spelling of Mates. Czech (Mat’as), Slovak (Mataš), and Croatian: from the personal name Mathias, Croatian Matija or Matej (see Matthew). Lithuanian: from the personal name Matas, Lithuanian form of Latin Matthaeus (see Matthew).

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

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

Galician: probably a habitational name from places called Ares, in the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo in Galicia, either from the plural of ar ‘wind’, ‘air’ (compare Buenos Aires, Galician Bos Ares), or from the medieval personal name Arias (Aires), which is probably of Germanic origin.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Puerto, in most cases from puerto ‘harbor’ (from Latin portus ‘harbor’, ‘haven’).

Spanish and Portuguese: occupational name for a grower or seller of wheat, from Spanish and Portuguese trigo.

Spanish form (Echevarría) of Basque Etxeberria: topographic or habitational name from the Basque elements etxe ‘house’ + berri ‘new’ + the definite article -a. This is the origin of the name of a village near Pamplona, now called Xabier, the birthplace of St. Francis Xavier (1506–52), missionary to East Asia.

Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian: from the Germanic personal name Giraldo, equivalent to Gerald.

Basque: habitational name from Acedo, a town in Navarre, Basque Country. Spanish: nickname for someone of a sour or vinegary disposition, from acedo ‘sour’, ‘gone sour’ (from Latin acetum ‘vinegar’).

Spanish (from Portuguese) and Catalan: habitational name from a place called Pina (in Zaragoza or Castelló de la Plana). Spanish: possibly a habitational name from a place called Piña (in Palencia and Valladolid provinces), possibly from piña ‘pinecone’.

Spanish: habitational name from Montilla, a place in Córdoba province.

English: variant spelling of Francis. Spanish (Francés), Portuguese (Francês), and southern French and Catalan (Francès): from an ethnic name meaning ‘Frenchman’ (see Francis).

habitational name from Luján in Huesca province.

nickname from eremita ‘hermit’ (Greek eremites), generally no doubt a nickname for someone living in an isolated spot (compare Hermes). Galician and Spanish: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Lugo, Orense, and Pontevedra, named with Old Spanish and Galician hermida ‘hermitage’, ‘shrine’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places named Puerta. Compare Porta.

Portuguese: the usual Portuguese form of Alvares.

Catalan: Castilianized form of Vives.

Spanish, Catalan, and Italian: habitational name from any of numerous places called Badia or Abbadia, or a topographic name for someone living near an abbey, Spanish abadía, Catalan abadia, and Italian badia (from Latin abbatia). In some cases the surname may have arisen as a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in an abbey or who looked after one.

Spanish and Portuguese: metonymic occupational name for an armorer or a swordsman, from espada ‘sword’ (Latin spata, from Greek spathe, originally denoting a broad, two-edged sword without a point). In some cases the surname may be a Catalan cognate, from Old Catalan espada (now espasa).

nickname from Spanish granado ‘mature’, ‘experienced’, ‘distinguished’. topographic name or metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of pomegranates, from granado ‘pomegranate tree’, Latin (pomum) granatum (see Garnett 1).

Spanish: from a medieval personal name, Toribio, Latin Turibius, bestowed in honor of two Spanish saints. St. Turibius of Astorga was a 5th-century bishop who championed Catholic doctrine against the Priscillianist heresy. St. Turibius of Palencia was the 6th-century founder of the famous abbey of Liébana in Asturies.

Italian: topographic name for someone who lived near a tower, usually a defensive fortification or watchtower (from Latin turris), or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word, as for example Torre Annunziata or Torre del Greco in Naples province, Torre de’ Passeri (Pescara, Abruzzo), or Torre di Ruggiero (Catanzaro, Calabria). Galician, Catalan, Aragonese, Spanish, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named in Galicia (often in the form De la Torre), in Catalonia and Aragon (as for example La Torre de Fontalbella, La Torre del Compte, La Torre de Fluvià), or from any of the many places in Spain and Portugal named Torre or La Torre, from torre ‘(watch) tower’ (of the same etymology as 1).

Spanish: habitational name for someone from Zamora, from an adjectival form of the place name. Compare Zambrano.

Spanish: variant of Tobar.

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.

Spanish, Italian, and French (Bernabé): from the personal name Bernabé (see Barnaby).

Catalan and southern French: topographic name from camps ‘fields’, or a habitational name from a place named with this word. French: Norman and Picard variant of the plural of Champ, etymologically identical with 1 above.

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

Muslim (common in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India): from a title of Persian origin, a short form of Arabic Amir ‘prince’, ‘commander’. Polish: from a short form of any of various Old Polish personal names containing the element mir ‘peace’, ‘quiet’, ‘esteem’, for example Miroslaw or Jaromir. Catalan: patronymic from Mir, a medieval personal name of Germanic origin (see Miro). French: variant of Mire 1.

Spanish (Monzón): habitational name from Monzón, a place in Uesca province, which is probably named from Latin montione ‘big mountain’.

English and Irish: variant of Mayhew. Variant of French Mailhot.

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

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

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.

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

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’.

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.

Southern Italian: derogatory nickname from barbera ‘barber’s wife’, a term also used to denote a prostitute or dishonest woman. Catalan (Barberà): habitational name from a place in Tarragona province, named with Late Latin Barbarianum ‘place of Barbarius’, a derivative of Barbarus (see Barbaro).

Spanish: variant of Quilez, which is perhaps a patronymic from the personal name Aquileo.

Spanish: habitational name from any of various places, for example in the provinces of Salamanca, Valladolid, and Segovia, so named encina ‘holm oak’ (Old Spanish lecina, Late Latin ilicina, a derivative of classical Latin ilex, genitive ilicis). Galician (Enciñas): topographic name from the plural from of enciña, a Galician variant of encina.

Chinese : one of the oldest Chinese surnames, already being the name of the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc), when many current Chinese surnames first came into use. According to legend, Jiang Yuan, a concubine of the legendary emperor Ku in the 25th century bc, accidentally stepped in the imprint of a god’s big toe, which impregnated her. Not wanting such a child, she abandoned the newborn baby, Hou Ji, in the wilderness. The infant was protected from the elements by the wings of eagles and was suckled on the milk of cows and sheep. He learned how to grow grain, and became the minister of agriculture under the legendary emperor Yao. His clan eventually settled in a city named Zhouyuan, in present-day Shaanxi province in western China. Under the influence of the name of the city, they came to be known as the Zhou, even though their surname was originally Ji. This situation lasted for over a millennium until a descendant, the famed virtuous Duke Wu Wang, changed his surname to Zhou, and his son established the Zhou dynasty. Zhou Enlai, premier of China from 1949 to 1976, belonged to this clan.

Spanish and Italian (also Del Carro): from carro ‘wagon’, ‘cart’ (from Late Latin carrum, of Gaulish origin), hence a metonymic occupational name for a carter or cartwright. Italian (Sicily; Carrò): respelling of the French family name Car(r)aud, from Occitan carral ‘passable by vehicles’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived by such a thoroughfare. Italian: from carro ’cart’, hence an occupational name for a carter or a cartwright. Southern Italian: topographic name from Greek kárros, southern Italian carru ‘turkey oak’ (Quercus cerris), or a habitational name from any of various places named with this word. Altered spelling of various like-sounding names, such as French Carreau and English Carrow.

Aragonese and Catalan: topographic name from the plural of plana ‘big plain’, ‘big plateau’ for someone who lived in a plain area, or habitational name from any of the places called Planas, Catalan Planes (from Latin plana ‘plane’).

Indian (chiefly Panjab): term used by Hindu and Sikh women either as the final element of a compound personal name or as a last name. It cannot be regarded as a true surname or family name. It goes back to Sanskrit kumari ‘girl’, ‘daughter’, which was reduced to kuar and then changed into kaur by metathesis. Among Sikhs, female names are often derived from male names by the addition of Kaur to the male name: e.g. Mahinder Kaur, from the male name Mahinder.

probably a habitational name from Buendía in Cuenca province, Spain. occasionally, a nickname from Spanish bueno ‘good’ + día ‘day’, presumably denoting someone who made frequent use of this salutation. Buendía was also occasionally used as a personal name in the Middle Ages, bestowed on a child as an expression of the parents’ satisfaction at the birth, or for the sake of a good omen.

African: unexplained.

Spanish and Catalan (variant spelling of Majoral): occupational name for the foreman of a gang of agricultural workers or the leader of a group of herdsmen, mayoral (Late Latin maioralis, originally an adjective derivative of maior ‘greater’).

Spanish and Portuguese (Tomé): from a personal name equivalent to Thomas. Northern Italian (Tomè): from a derivative of the personal name Tommaso, Italian equivalent of Thomas. Slovenian: from a short form of the personal name Tomaž (see Thomas), + the suffix -e, usually used of young people.

English: from Middle English salwes ‘sallows’, a topographic name for someone who lived by a group of sallow trees (see Sale 2). Catalan and Asturian-Leonese: a habitational name from any of the places called Sales, like Sales de Llierca (Catalonia) or Sales (Asturies), from the plural of Sala 1. This name is specially common in Catalonia. Portuguese: habitational name from a place that is probably so called from a Germanic personal name of uncertain form and derivation. Portuguese: religious byname adopted since the 17th century in honor of St. Francis of Sales (1567–1622), who was born at the Château de Sales in Savoy. French (Salès): habitational name from places named Salès in Cantal and Tarn.

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

Spanish: from a diminutive of Parra; probably a habitational name from one of the places in southern Spain called Parrilla. Italian (Calabria): from the feminine form of Parrillo or from parrilla ‘titmouse’, ‘long-tailed tit’ (a small bird), hence a nickname, perhaps for a small, lively, talkative person, though Fucilla refers to a Calabrian idiom, ‘the titmouse has sung to him’, indicating a person who has become rich.

Spanish: habitational name from a place so named in Segovia province or from Coca de Alba in Salamanca. Italian: probably an altered spelling of Cocca, or possibly a variant of Coco.

Portuguese: from fidalgo ‘nobleman’ (see Spanish Hidalgo).

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places called Pedraza, especially those in the provinces of Palencia, Salamanca, and Segovia.

Spanish: status name or occupational name from mariscal ‘marshal’.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Hinojosa, from a derivative of hinojo ‘fennel’. See also Fennell.

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.

Catalan: from palau ‘palace’, ‘mansion’ (see Palacio).

Portuguese and Catalan: variant (plural) of Costa. The Catalan form is a respelling (probably Castilianization) of Catalan Costes, of the same origin. Greek: from the personal name Kostas, a reduced form of Konstantinos (see Constantine).

Catalan, southern French (Occitan), and Portuguese: from mestre ‘master (craftsman)’, denoting the head of a craft or trade guild. Compare French Maitre. Jewish (Sephardic, especially in Italy): status name for a rabbi, translation of Aramaic Rabbi ‘teacher’. Italian: habitational name from Mestre, now one of the most densely populated areas of Venice.

Spanish: nickname from Spanish picazo ‘magpie’, applied perhaps to a talkative or thievish person, or someone who had a streak of white among black hair. The word is probably derived from Latin pica ‘magpie’, although the suffix is obscure.

Spanish: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + helm ‘helmet’, ‘protection’.

Catalan: occupational name from sabater ‘shoemaker’.

nickname from Spanish zurita ‘dove’. habitational name from either of two places, in Uesca and Santander, named Zurita, possibly from Basque zuri ‘white’.

Spanish: occupational name from carrero ‘carter’, a derivative of Latin carrum ‘cart’, ‘wagon’.

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

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-.

Comes from 'Sepultador de Vidas': 'one that buries life', meaning that its origins are in the gravedigger profession.

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.

Spanish (Cuéllar): habitational name from a place called Cuéllar in Segovia province, or from minor places so named in the provinces of Soria and Salamanca.

Spanish: unexplained. This name is particularly common in Mexico, also well established in Peru.

Catalan, Aragonese, and Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Solana or La Solana, derived from Catalan solà or Aragonese and Spanish solano ‘sun-facing place’ (see Sola and Solano).

Spanish, Portuguese, Galician: from pico ‘beak’ or ‘(mountain) peak’; perhaps a nickname for someone who had a prominent pointed nose, a topographic name for someone who lived by a peak, or a habitational name from a place named with this word (Pico in Galicia, El Pico in Asturies). Catalan (Picó): probably a nickname from Catalan picó ‘having a thick upper lip’. Italian: from pico ‘woodpecker’ or southern dialect picu ‘(pick)axe’.

Catalan: topographic name from codina ‘layer of hard, compressed earth’ or a habitational name from places in Barcelona and Castelló provinces named with this word.

Spanish: nickname from romo ‘snub-nosed’, ‘foreshortened’ (of uncertain etymology, perhaps from Latin rhombus, itself a borrowing from Greek, with reference to the two obtuse angles of this figure).

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

Spanish: habitational name from Arellano in Navarre, named in Late Latin as fundus Aurelianus ‘the farm or estate of Aurelius’.

Spanish (Andújar): habitational name from Andújar, a city to the east of Córdoba.

Spanish and Portuguese: from Spanish and Portuguese amor ‘love’, used to denote an illegitimate child, also as a nickname for a philanderer. Spanish, Portuguese, and English: from the medieval personal name Amor (Latin amor ‘love’), which was popular in Spain, Italy, and France, and introduced into England by the Normans. There was a St. Amor, of obscure history and unknown date, whose relics were preserved and venerated at the village of St. Amour in Burgundy.

Galician and Spanish: possibly a variant spelling of Vieira. In Spain the surname is found mainly in the island of Tenerife.

Catalan form (Seguí) of Occitan Seguin.

Galician, Asturian-Leonese, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of numerous places called Parada, predominantly in Galicia, but also in Asturies, Lleón, and northern Portugal.

Galician: habitational name from Quiroga, a place in Lugo province, so named from the plant queiroga, quiroga ‘erica’.

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: occupational or topographic name from the plural of Spanish fruto ‘fruit’. Catalan (Frutós): variant of the Catalan personal names Fructuós or Fruitós (from Latin Fructuosus), or variant of the habitational name from Sant Fruitós del Bages, a town in the district of El Bages, in Catalonia.

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.

religious byname, from the title María de las Nieves ‘Mary of the Snows’, given particularly to children born on 5 August, on which date the Virgin allegedly once caused it to snow in Rome. It is possible that the surname derives in part from a nickname for someone with snow-white hair. Castilianized form of the Galician and Asturian-Leonese habitational name Neves.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places in Spain named with fuente ‘spring’, ‘well’ (Latin fons, genitive fontis), as for example Fuente Álamo (in Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, and Murcia provinces), Fuente del Maestre (Badajoz), or Fuente Palmera (Córdoba). This is one of the most common Spanish place name elements.

Spanish: habitational name from Vilches, a place in Jaén province.

Spanish and Portuguese (Álamo): from álamo ‘poplar’ (of uncertain origin), applied either as a topographic name or as a habitational name from any of several places in Spain and Portugal named with this word.

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.

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 (mainly Galicia): habitational name from Lema in A Coruña province.

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

Catalan: occupational name for a furrier, from Catalan pellisser.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places named Vegas or Las Vegas, from the plural of vega ‘meadow’ (see Vega).

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places, mainly in Castile, named Revilla, from Old Spanish revilla ‘dependent settlement’, a derivative of villa (see Villa).

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

English: variant spelling of Ryle.

Galician: habitational name from any of the several placed named Mera in Galicia. Romanian: habitational name for someone from the village of Mera (Hungarian Méra) in Transylvania.

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

Spanish and Portuguese: from chico ‘small’, ‘young’ (of uncertain origin, perhaps from Latin ciccum ‘trifle’), applied as a nickname for a small man, or for the younger of two bearers of the same personal name. Portuguese: from a pet form of the personal name Francisco, a vernacular form of Franciscus (see Francis).

Spanish and Portuguese: variant (plural) of Canto.

Portuguese: patronymic from the Germanic personal name Rodrigo. The surname is also common in the cities of the west coast of India, having been taken there by Portuguese colonists. Variant spelling of Spanish Rodriguez.

Spanish and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name for someone from Toledo, from an adjectival form of the place name.

Catalan: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Guardiola, from guardiola, a diminutive of guàrdia ‘guard’.

Catalan: variant of Catalan Rossell. Catalan: possibly also a habitational name from Rossell, a town in Castelló de la Plana. Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements ros ‘rose’ + the common surname suffix -ell, from the Latin adjectival ending -elius. Probably an altered spelling of German Rösel (see Roesel).

Galician: habitational name from any of several places in Lugo province named Neira.

Spanish (Adán): from the personal name Adán, Spanish form of Adam. Scottish: probably a variant of Adam. Hungarian (Ádán): variant of Ádám, from the personal name Ádám, Hungarian form of Adam.

Spanish: occupational name for a laborer who worked the land, from an agent derivative of labrar ‘to cultivate (land)’.

Spanish (Antolín): from the personal name, a vernacular form of Antoninus, a name borne by thirteen saints. Slovenian (eastern Slovenia): patronymic from the personal name Antol, an old derivative of Anton, Latin Antonius (see Anthony).

Spanish, Catalan, and Aragonese: habitational name from any of several places called Torralba, named with torre ‘tower’ + alba ‘white’.

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

Spanish: habitational name from Lora de Estepa or Lora del Río, both in Seville province. Hungarian (Lóra): from a pet form of the personal name Lóránt (see Roland).

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic for someone who lived on a corner, canto ‘corner’ (from Latin cantus), or a habitational name from numerous places in Spain and Portugal named with this word. Catalan (Cantó): habitational name from any of the minor places in Catalonia named Cantó, from Catalan cantó ‘stone’, derived from the pre-Latin form cant-.

Spanish: habitational name from Hoyos in Cáceres province or one of the three places so named in Ávila province, from hoyo ‘pit’, ‘hole’, probably from Latin fovea.

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

Catalan: respelling of Figueres, a habitational name from a town called Figueres in the district of L’Empordà, Catalonia.

Spanish (Antúnez): patronymic from a dialect form of the personal name Antonio.

Spanish and Portuguese: from verdugo, which has a variety of meanings, ranging from ‘switch’, ‘whip’ to ‘tyrant’, ‘hangman’, some or all of which may have contributed to the surname. Galician: habitational name from O Verdugo, a town in Pontevedra province, Galicia.

Spanish: habitational name from Mansilla, a place in La Rioja province.

Spanish (Flórez): probably a patronymic from the Visigothic personal name Froila, a derivative of fro ‘lord’, ‘master’. The name is also borne by Sephardic Jews.

Northern Irish: reduced form of McComas. Catalan: topographic name from the plural of coma, from Gaulish cumba ‘valley’.

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

Catalan and southern French (Occitan): topographic name, from garriga ‘barren land, where only holm oaks grow’.

French, English, and Spanish (Cordón): from Old French cordon ‘cord’, ‘ribbon’, a diminutive of corde ‘string’, ‘cord’; Spanish cordón, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of cord or ribbon. English: metonymic occupational name for a worker in fine Spanish kid leather, from Old French cordoan (so named with being originally produced at Córdoba).

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from a place called Abreu in Minho province.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Llanos or Los Llan, from the plural of llano ‘plain’.

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.

Spanish: possibly a habitational name from Trillo in Guadalajara province; otherwise, a metonymic occupational name from trillo ‘threshing sledge’ (Latin tribulum). Italian: perhaps from French trille, a southern variant of treille ‘vine arbor’. English: Reaney believes this to be an altered form of Thurlow, citing as evidence Philip de Trillowe 1279.

Catalan (Roselló): variant of Rossello.

Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, and Romanian (of Slavicnorigin): ethnic name for a Russian. DM, SL, DBR Czech:ndescriptive nickname from the adjective rusý ‘strawberrynblond’. DM Slovenian and Croatian (northern Croatia): nicknamenfrom the adjective rus ‘red-haired’, or from the dialect wordnrus ‘cockroach’. Compare Ros 3. SL

Spanish: metonymic occupational name for someone who had a mace as a symbol of office or who carried one in ceremonial possessions, from Spanish maza ‘mace’ (Late Latin mattea, probably of Germanic origin). In some cases it may have been used as a metonymic occupational name for a soldier who used a mace in its original function as a weapon. Polish: nickname derived from mazac ‘to smear’, ‘sully’, ‘rub out’. The exact meaning of the nickname is unclear. Compare Maziarz.

Basque: topographic name, probably formed with Basque ali ‘food’ + the locative suffix -aga.

Spanish and Portuguese: from vaca ‘cow’ (Latin vacca), probably applied as a metonymic occupational name for a cowherd or as a nickname. Czech: pet form of the personal name Václav (see Vacek).

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Oliveira, from Portuguese and Galician oliveira ‘olive grove’ (Late Latin olivarius, a derivative of Latin oliva ‘olive’), or a topographic name from this word.

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 (Río), Portuguese, and Italian: from río ‘river’, ‘brook’ (from Latin rivus), applied either as a topographic name or as a habitational name from a place named with this word. Southern French (Occitan): variant of Rioux.

Aragonese: habitational name from any of the places called Samper, in Aragon. Catalan: habitational name from any of the places in Catalonia called Sant Pere, generally as the result of the dedication of a local church or shrine to St. Peter (Sant Pere).

Spanish: habitational name from any of numerous places called Monteagudo (‘pointed mountain’), from monte ‘mountain’ + agudo ‘sharp’, ‘pointed’ (Latin acutus, from acus ‘needle’), for example in the provinces of Murcia, Teruel, A Coruña, and Navarre.

Spanish and Portuguese: topographic name from chaparro ‘oak bushes’ (used as firewood), from Basque txaparro, or alternatively a nickname from the same word in the sense ‘plump’, ‘chubby’.

Portuguese and Galician: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Portela, from portela ‘passageway’, ‘gateway’.

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

Portuguese: widespread habitational name from any of numerous places in Portugal named Matos, from mata ‘brushwood’, ‘scrub’, ‘thicket’. Spanish: topographic name, from the plural of Mato. Hungarian: variant of Matus.

Spanish: unexplained, but most probably from a derivative of campo ‘field’. This is a frequent surname in southeastern Spain (Murcia, Almería).

Spanish and Portuguese: from a medieval personal name, Amado, Latin Amatus ‘beloved (i.e. by God)’. Compare Italian Amato. Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Spanish family name.

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

Chinese : from the name of the state of Zhu in present-day Shandong province. Wu Wang, the first king (1122–1116 bc) of the Zhou dynasty, granted to Cao Xie, a descendant of the emperor Zhuan Xu of the 26th century bc, lordship of the state of Zhu (see also Cao). Later, this state was conquered by the state of Chu, after which many descendants of the Zhu aristocracy took a modified form of the character Zhu for their surname; the pronunciation is the same. The name has become very common in southern China. Chinese : following the establishment of the Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, Wu Wang granted lordship of the area of Zhu to a descendant of the legendary emperor Huang Di. His descendants eventually adopted the place name Zhu as their surname. Additionally, in ancient China the titles of several important governmental positions contained the character for Zhu. Descendants of some of these officials adopted Zhu as their surname. Chinese : there are two accounts of the origin of this name, both from the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). One account derives the name from an area named Zhu in the state of Lu. Another account derives it from a senior minister of the state of Yue named Zhu Zhiying. Chinese : this was part of the ancient word Tianzhu ‘India’. When Buddhist monks came to China from India, they often used Zhu as part of their name, and it gradually came to be used as a surname.

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 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’.

Spanish (Espín): variant of Espino.

Italian: from a short form of various personal names formed with the hypocoristic suffix -lillo, as for example Jacolillo or Paolillo.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the places called Muriel, in Soria, Gaudalajara, or Valladolid. English (East Anglia): from the female personal name Muriel, of Breton origin. This was common in East Anglia during the Middle Ages, where it was introduced by Breton settlers following the Norman invasion.

Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named Tejera, from a derivative of tejo ‘yew tree’ (Latin taxus).

Spanish (Cristóbal): from the personal name Cristóbal, Spanish form of Christopher.

Spanish: topographic name for someone living by a hawthorn or in an area characterized by hawthorns, espino.

Spanish: habitational name from Plasencia in Cácares province, or from a Castilianized form of Aragonese Plasenzia, towns in Zaragoza and Uesca.

Italian, Spanish, and Catalan: from candela ‘candle’ (Latin candela), hence a metonymic occupational name for a chandler (candlemaker) or a nickname for a tall thin person.

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived by a thoroughfare, from camin ‘path’, ‘way’ (from Late Latin caminus), or a habitational name from any of numerous places named with this word. Italian: topographic name from camino ‘root’, ‘hearth’, ‘furnace’, or ‘olive press’.

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

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.

Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish: topographic name from olivera ‘olive tree’. In some cases a Castilianized spelling of Galician Oliveira.

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 (common in Devon and Cornwall), Spanish (Julián), and German: from a personal name, Latin Iulianus, a derivative of Iulius (see Julius), which was borne by a number of early saints. In Middle English the name was borne in the same form by women, whence the modern girl’s name Gillian.

French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and Hungarian (Gáspár): from the personal name, which was common in central Europe up to the 18th century (see Casper). Slovenian (mainly Prekmurje in easternmost Slovenia; Gašpar): from a dialect form of the personal name Gašper (see Casper).

Spanish: of uncertain derivation; possibly from lima ‘file’. Portuguese: topographic name for someone living on the banks of the river of this name (of pre-Roman origin, probably akin to a Celtic element lemos, limos ‘elm’).

Spanish: topographic name for someone who lived by a field of lucerne, Spanish melgar (a collective derivative of mielga ‘lucerne’, Late Latin melica, for classical Latin Medica (herba) ‘plant’ from Media). There are several places in Spain named with this word, and the surname may be a habitational name from any one of them. Dutch: variant of Melchior.

Spanish, Galician and Asturian-Leonese (Valcárcel): habitational name from any of the places in Logroño province, Galicia and Asturies, named Valcárcel, named in Galician or Old Spanish with val ‘valley’ + cárcel ‘prison’ (Latin carcer), the second element being used in the transferred sense of a confined space, i.e. a narrow gorge.