Esquivel
A Spanish surname most likely taken from a place name, and now especially common in the Spanish-speaking world and the U.S.
The #925 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,216 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Esquivel is a Spanish surname that almost certainly began as a locational name, referring to someone who came from a place called Esquivel. In Spanish surname tradition, such names often identified a person by their town or estate of origin before becoming hereditary family names. The place-name itself is usually treated as pre-Roman or otherwise old Iberian in origin, so its deeper meaning is uncertain.
History
The surname is well established in Spain and later spread widely through the Spanish Empire and migration to the Americas. It is especially familiar today in Latin American communities and in the United States. Because the form is also a place-name, the surname fits a common pattern in Spanish onomastics: geographic identifiers becoming inherited family names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Esquivel is also the name of a municipality in Andalusia, Spain, which likely helped give rise to the surname.
From the historical record
“corial, Escriclie , Eslava, Esparza, Espejo, Espe- rón, Espiga, Espin, Espina, Espino, Espinosa, Espoz, Espronceda, Esquivel, Esteras, Estrella, Estremera, Enlate, Ezterripa, Fajes, Fanjul, Fanlo, Fano , Fe , Febrero , Felin , Fenoquar ^ , Ferreira, Ferreras, Ferro, Fesser, Fica, Figueras, Figueroa, Figuerola…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos