Avilés
A Spanish locational surname meaning “from Avilés,” the Asturian town in northern Spain.
The #1,375 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,006 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally taken from the place-name Avilés in Asturias, Spain. In Spanish surname use, that kind of name usually meant “person from Avilés” or “family connected with Avilés.” The deeper origin of the place-name itself is older and not fully settled in these excerpts, so the safest reading is the geographic one.
History
The historical material links Avilés with Spanish place-based surnames and treats it alongside other names formed from towns and regions. As with many Iberian locational surnames, it likely spread when people moved away from their home town and were identified by origin. The spelling without an accent is common outside Spain, especially in the Americas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Avilés is also the name of an important port city on Spain’s northern coast, so the surname can point back to a specific and long-established place rather than an occupation or nickname.
From the historical record
“nombre de los lugares o pueblos que habian ganado a tuerza de armas, o en que poseian haciendas, o donde na- cieron o habitaron, como los Toledo, Córdova, Aviles, Sa- lamanca, Zaragoza, Teruel, Daroca; otros de las provin. elas o reinos en que habian ejercido. grandes cargos, o en que habian ceñido la corona sus…”
— Diccionario de los apellidos