Alcalá
A Spanish surname taken from one of several places called Alcalá, ultimately from an Arabic word meaning “the castle” or “fortified town.”
The #2,029 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 17,386 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Alcalá is a habitational surname, given to people who came from a place named Alcalá. The place-name goes back to Arabic al-qalʿa, meaning “the fortress” or “the castle,” a word widely used in medieval Spain for fortified settlements. Many Spanish towns bear this name in some form, which is why the surname can point to more than one locality rather than a single family seat.
History
The surname is strongly associated with Spain and Spanish-speaking communities, and it became common enough that many unrelated families could adopt it independently from different places named Alcalá. In the United States, it is often found among people of Hispanic ancestry. Because the place-name occurs in several regions, exact local origin usually cannot be determined from the surname alone.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
There are multiple Spanish towns called Alcalá, including Alcalá de Henares, one of the best-known historic university cities in Spain.
From the historical record
“Castile, Aragon, Leon, Granada, - Seville, Cadiz, Palos Alcala, Cintra, Ronda, Cathalongne (Catalonia), Cordova, Valencia, Toledo, Talavera, Zamora, Moreno (see Sierra), Prado, Merida, Villareal, Castroverde, Alcantara, Saragossa,”
— A Grammar of American Surnames