Anaya
A surname of Spanish origin, most often explained as coming from a place-name or local family name rather than from a common occupation or nickname.
The #1,488 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,855 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Anaya is generally treated as a Spanish habitational name, referring to someone from a place called Anaya. In medieval records it appears as a byname and then as a family surname, which is typical of names formed from place association. The deeper origin of the place-name itself is not fully certain from these excerpts, so the safest reading is that the surname began as a locational identifier.
History
The excerpts show Anaya being used in medieval Iberian documentary material, where it appears alongside personal names and noble or military designations. That fits the usual pattern of Spanish surnames that started as local or territorial identifiers and later became inherited family names. The name is still well established in Spanish-speaking countries and has become fairly widespread in the Americas through later migration and colonial-era spread.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Anaya is one of those surnames that can look unusual in English, but in Spanish historical records it follows a very familiar pattern: a place-based name that eventually became hereditary.
From the historical record
“Alfonso, Assur Gundesalvo. Assui' Oveco, Hanni Munio, Beila Gal indo, Roderico Bcrmudo , Di- daco Alvaro , Anaya Suero , Pero Sancio , Lope Fortunio , Nunio Guter , Petro Fulco , Goter Ferrandus, Garsea Eanemirus. Habia familias que preferian esta á la otra forma ; en una es- critura del 978 firman: ftSanctio…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos