Almanza
A Spanish locational surname from places named Almanza, most famously the town in Castile-La Mancha.
The #2,454 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,992 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Almanza is a Spanish surname taken from a place-name, most likely the town of Almanza in León. The place-name is generally linked to Arabic influence in medieval Spain, though the exact root is not always given the same way in older sources. In practice, the surname means someone who came from, or was associated with, that place.
History
The name is best known today in Spain and across Spanish-speaking communities, and it also appears in the Americas through later migration. It is especially familiar from the Battle of Almanza/Almansa in 1707, which appears frequently in British historical writing. Spellings with -za and -sa have both circulated in historical English references because of the place-name and transliteration habits.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
English-language historical books often mention Almanza because the Battle of Almanza in 1707 was a major War of the Spanish Succession engagement.
From the historical record
“the Lindsays.' He died March 6th, 1698, leaving a numer- ous family. His second son, the Hon. Colonel James Lindsay, was killed at the battle of Almanza in Spain in 1707. The eldest son, John, mneteenth e^u-l of Crawford and thu'd of Lindsay, was sworn a privy councillor in 1702. He was an ofBcer in the army, and…”
— The Scottish Nation; or, the surnames, families ... of the people of Scotland, vol. 1