De la Peña
A Spanish surname meaning “from the rock” or “of the stone.”
The #8,189 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,215 Americans shares it.
Etymology
De la Peña is a Spanish habitational surname built from de la, meaning “from the,” and peña, meaning “rock,” “cliff,” or “boulder.” The word peña comes ultimately from Latin pinna, which in later usage developed the sense of a rocky outcrop or crag. As a surname, it would originally identify someone who lived near a notable rock, cliff, or place called Peña.
History
This is a widespread Hispanic surname found in Spain and throughout Latin America. In many cases it began as a place-based byname attached to people from a locality named Peña or from a house or farm near a distinctive rock formation. In English-language records it is often written as Delapena or De La Pena, reflecting the loss or merging of spaces and accents in immigration and census recording.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The element peña appears in many Spanish place names, so this surname can point to a geographic feature as much as to a family line.