Arteaga
A Basque surname from a place-name, probably meaning a wooded or brush-covered upland.
The #1,848 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,907 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Arteaga is a surname of Basque origin, built from Basque elements commonly understood as arte, “holm oak” or “oak scrub,” and the locative suffix -aga, “place of” or “place abundant in.” In plain English, the name likely began as a place-name meaning something like “place of the oaks” or “oak thicket.” As with many Basque surnames, it was later adopted by families from that locality and spread as a hereditary surname.
History
The name is associated with old Basque lineages and place-names in the northern Iberian world, especially in the Basque Country. Historical references in early modern Spanish genealogical writing connect Arteaga with noble families and local houses, which helped preserve the surname across generations. It is now found widely in Spain and Latin America, and it is also common in the United States through Hispanic immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Basque surnames ending in -aga often point to a physical location, so Arteaga fits a very common regional naming pattern.
From the historical record
“Daniel Santander J. M. Arteaga G. Perrow J. E. Riquelme Eduardo Aliedo”
— Diccionario de los apellidos