Carvalho
A Portuguese surname meaning “oak grove” or “oak wood,” originally tied to a place name.
The #3,302 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 28,385 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Carvalho comes from Portuguese and Galician carvalho, meaning “oak tree,” and by extension a place where oaks grow or a locality marked by oak woodland. As a surname, it most likely began as a habitational name for someone from such a place, or from a named estate or village. Related spellings in older sources include Carvallo.
History
The name is especially common in Portugal and in Portuguese-speaking communities overseas, including Brazil. It also appears in Galician and among Sephardic and other Iberian Jewish families, where Portuguese surnames were often adopted or retained in diaspora. In English-language records it is usually preserved in its Portuguese spelling, though occasional variant spellings occur.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname ultimately points to the oak, a tree that was a common landmark in Iberian place-naming.
From the historical record
“Carus 106, 131, 605. *Carvajales 438. Carvalho 381. *Carvallo 438. Carver 642. *Carystum 434. Casa, della 355. ^Casabermeja 441.”
— Die Personennamen, insbesondere die Familiennamen