Horta
A surname most likely tied to a place name, especially a field or garden-related locality.
The #8,481 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,389 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Horta is a Romance place-name and surname built on the word for an enclosed cultivated plot, garden, or vegetable plot. In Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan, the basic form horta refers to a kitchen garden or fertile horticultural land, so the surname likely began as a locational name for someone who lived by or came from such a place. In some cases it may also point to specific towns or districts called Horta.
History
The surname is well established in Iberian-language areas and also appears in diaspora communities through later migration. Because it is also a common place-name element, Horta may have multiple independent origins in different regions rather than a single family line. The historical excerpts supplied treat it as a local name, but they do not give a detailed derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Horta is also the name of a district in Barcelona, which helps explain how the surname could arise independently in more than one place.
From the historical record
“Horst 161, 376. Horstmann 304, 376. Horta 117. ♦Hortanum 437. ♦Hortense 437. Hortensius 367 , 437, 459.”
— Die Personennamen, insbesondere die Familiennamen