Fonseca
A Portuguese and Spanish surname from place names meaning a dry or barren hillside, or a settlement by such terrain.
The #1,363 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,938 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Fonseca is a habitational surname, originally referring to someone from a place called Fonseca. The place-name is commonly explained from Latin words meaning “dry” or “parched” and “hill” or “slope,” giving the sense of a dry hillside or barren upland. The name is well known in Iberian usage and was later carried widely into the Americas and elsewhere through Portuguese and Spanish expansion.
History
The surname is especially associated with Portugal and Spain, where it was borne by noble and clerical families in the medieval and early modern periods. It spread broadly to Latin America, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world through migration and colonial-era settlement. Today it is found among Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking communities as well as in diaspora populations.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname became especially prominent in Portugal, where several notable historical families and churchmen bore it, helping keep the name visible in Iberian history.
From the historical record
“Fussel, Bund. Rolls. — Eng. Fussell — French Fusil — Ital. FusELi. English Fossick — French FoisSAC — Span. 1 Fonseca. compounds. {Hard, fortis) Eng. Fuszard — Fr. Foussard, Fossard. (Hari, warrior) French Foussier, Fusier, Fossier, Foncier ?”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany