Da Costa
A Portuguese and Spanish surname meaning “from the coast” or “of the shore.”
The #5,224 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,226 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Da Costa is a Romance surname built from the preposition da/de la plus costa, meaning “coast,” “shore,” or “hillside.” In Portuguese, Da Costa literally means “of the coast,” and the same form appears in Iberian naming traditions more broadly. The older dictionary note points to a place-based sense rather than a personal nickname.
History
The surname is especially associated with Portuguese and Jewish Sephardic families, and it spread through migration from Iberia into the wider Atlantic world. In English-language records it often appears with the space preserved as Da Costa, though it may also be written as Dacosta. The form is common enough in modern usage that it can function either as a family name of Iberian origin or as an anglicized spelling of the same.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The prefix da in Portuguese surnames often means simply “from the,” so Da Costa is one of many surnames that began as a plain geographic description.
From the historical record
“DACOSTA \ (Portug.) Of the Coast or DA COSTA J Shore [Lat. casta, a side] D'ALLEMAGNEl (Fr.) Of Germany [Lat.- D'ALMAINE J Teut. tribal name Al{l)e- matini, Alamanni, usually said to signify . the 'All-Men,' whatever that may mean. Ill all probability there should bfe an”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)