Gomes
A common Iberian surname that usually began as a patronymic, meaning “son of Gome” or “son of Gomo.”
The #1,433 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,436 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Gomes is the Portuguese, Galician, and sometimes Spanish surname form built from the medieval personal name Gomes, itself a patronymic from an older given name such as Gome or Gomo. That personal name is generally taken to be of Germanic origin, though the exact root is not always explained the same way in older scholarship. In plain terms, the surname began as a family identifier meaning descent from a man called Gomes.
History
The surname is especially common in Portuguese- and Galician-speaking areas, and it also spread widely through Iberian migration to the Americas and elsewhere. Historical records from medieval Spain and Portugal show the name in use among local elites as well as ordinary families. In modern usage it is especially frequent as a Portuguese surname, and in Spanish contexts it may also appear as a variant or related form of Gómez.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because many Iberian surnames began as patronymics, Gomes and Gómez are cousins in form and history rather than identical spellings of the same modern surname.
From the historical record
“uil duas galetas et dúos panes, arrobo de zebata. Azenari Gardeliz una galeta et uno pane. Andere mietro et medio et carnero et capra. Lope Gomes - sanis altero tanto. Maria duas galetas et dúos pa- nes , arrobo de zebata. Fortunio Sanctionis de In- durain altero sic. Manzo Oxoiz altero sic. Urracha Enecones altero…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos