120+ Spanish Last Names and Their Meanings (2026)

This list has more than 120 Spanish last names with their meanings, starting with the most common surnames in Spain and then grouped by type: patronymic, place, occupational, descriptive, and Basque, Catalan and Galician names. It also explains why Spaniards carry two surnames and how they are passed on.

How Spanish surnames work

Most people in Spain have two surnames: the father’s first surname followed by the mother’s first surname. Pablo Ruiz Picasso took Ruiz from his father and Picasso from his mother, and he chose to go by the second. Since 1999 parents may put the mother’s surname first if they agree, and the order they choose for the first child applies to all their children. A woman keeps her own surnames when she marries.

Around a third of the most common Spanish surnames are patronymics, formed by adding -ez (“son of”) to a first name: Rodríguez is the son of Rodrigo, Fernández the son of Fernando. The next largest groups come from places and from the physical or personal traits of an ancestor. Surnames from the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia follow their own languages and are easy to spot once you know the endings.

If you want a surname for a character rather than a family history, the Last Name Generator builds them in a Spanish style with the meaning attached. For Mexico specifically, see our list of Mexican last names, and for rarer picks from many languages, unique last names.

The most common Spanish last names

These are the most frequent surnames in Spain according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), in approximate order. The top ten are all patronymics or share the -ez pattern, apart from García and Martín.

García — likely Basque, from gartz, “young”; the most common surname in Spain, with its origin debated
Rodríguez — patronymic, “son of Rodrigo”; Rodrigo means “famous ruler”
González — patronymic, “son of Gonzalo”; Gonzalo is Germanic, “battle elf” or “battle genius”
Fernández — patronymic, “son of Fernando”; Fernando is Germanic, “bold journey”
López — patronymic, “son of Lope”; Lope comes from Latin lupus, “wolf”
Martínez — patronymic, “son of Martín”; Martín comes from Mars, the Roman god of war
Sánchez — patronymic, “son of Sancho”; Sancho comes from Latin sanctus, “holy”
Pérez — patronymic, “son of Pedro”; Pedro means “rock, stone”
Gómez — patronymic, “son of Gome”; Gome is Visigothic, “man”
Martín — from the given name Martín, “of Mars”
Jiménez — patronymic, “son of Jimeno”; Jimeno is of Basque or Hebrew origin, debated
Ruiz — patronymic, “son of Ruy”, a short form of Rodrigo
Hernández — patronymic, “son of Hernando”, a variant of Fernando
Díaz — patronymic, “son of Diego”; Diego is of uncertain origin, possibly from Santiago
Moreno — descriptive, “dark-skinned” or “dark-haired”
Muñoz — patronymic, “son of Muño”, a medieval given name of uncertain origin
Álvarez — patronymic, “son of Álvaro”; Álvaro is Germanic, “all guard”
Romero — “pilgrim to Rome”; also the Spanish word for rosemary
Alonso — from the given name Alonso, Germanic, “noble and ready”
Gutiérrez — patronymic, “son of Gutierre”, a Germanic name, “army ruler”
Navarro — place, “from Navarre”
Torres — place, “towers”
Domínguez — patronymic, “son of Domingo”, “of the Lord”
Vázquez — patronymic, “son of Vasco”, meaning “Basque”
Ramos — religious, from Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday; literally “branches”
Gil — from the given name Gil, the Spanish form of Giles
Ramírez — patronymic, “son of Ramiro”; Ramiro is Germanic, “famous counsel”
Serrano — place, “from the mountains”, sierra
Blanco — descriptive, “white”, for fair hair or skin
Molina — place, “mill”
Morales — place, “mulberry trees”
Suárez — patronymic, “son of Suero”; Suero may come from Latin, “swineherd”, debated
Ortega — place, from a town name, possibly “nettle”
Delgado — descriptive, “thin”
Castro — place, “castle, fort”, from Latin castrum
Ortiz — patronymic, “son of Ortún”; Ortún may come from Latin Fortunius, “fortunate”
Rubio — descriptive, “blond”
Marín — from the given name Marino, “of the sea”
Sanz — from Sancho, “holy”, a shortened patronymic
Núñez — patronymic, “son of Nuño”, from Latin nonnus, “ninth” or “tutor”, debated
Iglesias — place, “churches”
Medina — place, from Arabic madīna, “city”
Garrido — descriptive, “elegant, handsome”
Cortés — descriptive, “courteous”
Castillo — place, “castle”
Santos — religious, “saints”, from All Saints’ Day
Lozano — descriptive, “proud, vigorous”
Guerrero — occupational, “warrior”
Cano — descriptive, “grey-haired”
Prieto — descriptive, “dark”
Méndez — patronymic, “son of Mendo”, a short form of Menendo, Germanic origin
Cruz — religious, “cross”
Calvo — descriptive, “bald”
Gallego — place, “from Galicia”
Vidal — from the given name Vidal, Latin vitalis, “full of life”
León — place, the city and kingdom of León; also “lion”
Márquez — patronymic, “son of Marcos”, or from marqués, “marquis”, debated
Herrera — occupational and place, “blacksmith’s shop”
Peña — place, “rock, crag”
Flores — from the given name Flor, or a place, “flowers”
Cabrera — place, “place of goats”
Campos — place, “fields”
Vega — place, “fertile lowland, meadow”
Fuentes — place, “springs, fountains”
Carrasco — place, “holm oak scrub”
Diez — Castilian form of Díaz, “son of Diego”
Caballero — occupational, “knight, horseman”
Reyes — religious, from the Epiphany, “kings”, the Three Kings
Nieto — descriptive, “grandson”
Aguilar — place, “place of eagles”
Pascual — religious, “of Easter”, Pascua
Santana — religious, from Santa Ana, “Saint Anne”
Herrero — occupational, “blacksmith”
Lorenzo — from the given name Lorenzo, “from Laurentum”
Montero — occupational, “huntsman”
Hidalgo — social rank, “son of something”, meaning a nobleman
Giménez — alternative spelling of Jiménez
Ibáñez — patronymic, “son of Ibán”, a form of Juan
Ferrer — Catalan, “blacksmith”
Durán — descriptive, from Latin durans, “enduring”
Santiago — religious, “Saint James”
Benítez — patronymic, “son of Benito”, “blessed”
Mora — place, “blackberry” or “mulberry”; also Moorish, debated
Vicente — from the given name Vicente, “conquering”
Vargas — place, “slope, hillside meadow”
Arias — patronymic origin, from the medieval name Arias, possibly Greek “warlike”, debated
Carmona — place, the town of Carmona in Seville
Crespo — descriptive, “curly-haired”
Román — from the given name Román, “Roman”
Pastor — occupational, “shepherd”
Soto — place, “grove, thicket by a river”
Sáez — Castilian contraction of Sánchez, “son of Sancho”
Velasco — Basque, “little crow”
Moya — place, the town of Moya in Cuenca
Soler — Catalan, “sunny ground”
Parra — place, “grapevine trellis”
Esteban — from the given name Esteban, Stephen, “crown”
Bravo — descriptive, “brave, fierce”
Gallardo — descriptive, “gallant, handsome”
Rojas — place or descriptive, “red”, from red earth

Basque, Catalan and Galician surnames

These are the names from Spain’s other languages. Basque surnames usually name the family’s house or its landscape, so they are place names in the strict sense.

Echeverría — Basque etxe berri, “new house”
Etxeberria — Basque spelling of Echeverría
Goikoetxea — Basque, “upper house”
Mendoza — Basque, “cold mountain”
Aguirre — Basque, “open, prominent place”
Ibarra — Basque, “valley, meadow by a river”
Urrutia — Basque, “distant place”
Zabala — Basque, “wide place”
Arrieta — Basque, “stony place”
Garmendia — Basque, “mountain of flames” is the usual gloss; debated
Iturbe — Basque, “below the spring”
Olaizola — Basque, usually read as “the cold ironworks”; debated
Elizondo — Basque, “next to the church”
Uribe — Basque, “below the town”
Echegaray — Basque, “high house”
Puig — Catalan, “hill”
Vila — Catalan, “town”
Pujol — Catalan, “small hill”
Casals — Catalan, “farmhouses”
Roca — Catalan, “rock”
Serra — Catalan, “mountain range”
Font — Catalan, “spring, fountain”
Mas — Catalan, “farmhouse”
Riera — Catalan, “stream”
Castells — Catalan, “castles”
Oliveira — Galician and Portuguese, “olive tree”
Carballo — Galician, “oak”
Souto — Galician, “grove”
Seoane — Galician, “Saint John”
Rivas — Galician and Castilian, “riverbanks”
Pazos — Galician, “manor houses”
Otero — place, “hillock”, common in Galicia and León
Barreiro — Galician, “clay pit”
Lago — Galician, “lake”

Spanish surnames from Arabic and Sephardic history

Alcalá — place, from Arabic al-qal‘a, “the fortress”
Almagro — place, from Arabic al-maghra, “the red clay”
Benavides — place, the town of Benavides in León; the ben- is often read as Arabic ibn, “son of”, debated
Alcázar — place, from Arabic al-qaṣr, “the palace”
Guadalupe — place, from Arabic wādī, “river”, plus a disputed second element
Toledano — place, “from Toledo”, common among Sephardic families
Cardoso — Portuguese and Spanish, “thistly place”, a Sephardic surname
Abravanel — Sephardic, from Hebrew Abraham, a famous family of scholars

Frequently asked questions

What is the most common Spanish last name?

García, followed by Rodríguez, González, Fernández and López, according to Spain’s National Statistics Institute. In Mexico and much of Latin America, Hernández takes first place.

Why do Spanish people have two last names?

Spanish naming passes down one surname from each parent: the father’s first surname and the mother’s first surname. Since 1999 parents can choose to put the mother’s first, as long as all their children follow the same order.

What does the -ez ending mean in Spanish surnames?

It means “son of”. Rodríguez is son of Rodrigo, Martínez son of Martín and Sánchez son of Sancho. The ending probably comes from a Latin genitive form, though some linguists argue for a pre-Roman origin.

Are Mexican last names the same as Spanish ones?

Mostly, because most Mexican surnames were brought by Spanish settlers. Mexico also has Nahuatl and Maya surnames and different frequencies, which is why our Mexican last names page has its own ranking.

How do I tell a Basque surname?

Look for Basque words for landscape and houses: etxe or eche (“house”), berri (“new”), mendi (“mountain”), ibar (“valley”), iturri (“spring”), plus endings such as -eta, -aga, -tegi and -ola. Echeverría, Mendoza and Aguirre are the most familiar.