Alanis
A Spanish surname, most likely a locational name tied to a place called Alanís in Andalusia.
The #3,274 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 27,994 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Alanis is best understood as a surname taken from the Spanish place-name Alanís, in Seville province. That place-name is generally linked to the Arabic period in Iberia, though the exact older form and meaning are not always stated with certainty in surname sources. In other words, the surname most likely began as a way of identifying someone as being from Alanís.
History
The surname is found in Spanish-speaking regions and later in the Americas through migration. Because the excerpt only lists Alanis among many surnames and does not explain it, the derivation is based on the standard onomastic pattern for Spanish surnames formed from place-names. The modern surname is also familiar outside genealogy because of well-known bearers such as the singer and actress Linda Ronstadt’s married name, Alanis, and the musician Alanis Morissette’s given name, though those are not evidence of origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Alanís is also the name of a town in Seville, Spain, which is the likeliest source of the surname.
From the historical record
“yor, Aguas, Aguayo, Agudo, Agüero, Águila, Aguilue, Aguiló , Aguinaga, Aguirre , Agulbj, Ahumada, Aillon, Alaminos, Alanis, Alarcon, Alas, Álava, Alba, x\lbacete, Albarado, Albarracin, Al- bear, Albeniz, Alberola, Albiñana, Albistur, Al- bolafia, Albuerne, Alcacer, Alcalá, Alcántara, Alca- raz. Alcázar, Alcoba…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos