Garibay
A surname of Basque origin, most likely from a place-name ending in -bay or -ibai, suggesting a river or valley setting.
The #2,755 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,590 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Garibay is generally treated as a Basque surname formed from a place-name. The second element is often linked with Basque ibai, meaning “river,” while the first element is less certain and may reflect a local topographic name or older place element. In broad terms, the name points to someone from a place near a river or watercourse.
History
The surname is well known in Spain, especially in Basque and nearby Castilian contexts, and appears in historical scholarship through writers such as Esteban de Garibay. As with many Basque surnames, it likely began as a toponymic identifier and later became hereditary. The excerpted source mentions Garibay only incidentally, not as an etymological explanation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Garibay is also the surname of the 16th-century Basque historian Esteban de Garibay y Zamalloa, a major early chronicler of Spanish history.
From the historical record
“Era es 900 en el original, aunque á nosotros pa- rece que babia de decir DCCC, 800, y conforme á ella lo refiere Garibay. » Tal es la copia que de esta escritura bizo Ramírez, y advertencia deque la acom- pañó. Hallábase, en efecto, en uno de los becerros de San Millan , pero no en el gótico ó antiguo, sino en el…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos