Almaraz
A Spanish surname most likely taken from a place-name, probably pointing back to a family’s home locality in Spain.
The #4,215 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,738 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Almaraz is a Spanish surname formed from a place name, most famously the town of Almaraz in Cáceres, western Spain. As with many Spanish locational surnames, it originally identified someone who came from that place or lived nearby. The place-name itself is older than the surname and is likely of pre-Roman or Arabic-influenced Iberian origin, though its deeper meaning is not securely established.
History
The surname developed in Spain and later spread through Spanish-speaking regions, especially with migration to the Americas. In modern times it is found in Mexico, the southwestern United States, and other parts of Latin America. Like many toponymic surnames, it usually signals ancestral association with a specific locality rather than a descriptive meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Almaraz is also the name of a historic bridge and strategic crossing on the Tagus River in Spain, which helped make the place-name itself well known.