Lamas
A surname found in French and Spanish records, probably from a place-name or regional word, though its exact origin is not certain.
The #6,100 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 54,927 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Lamas appears in both French and Spanish contexts, but the old sources do not agree on a single secure derivation. Some writers treated it as a French name, while others connected it with older forms that may reflect a place-name or an old word related to water or marshy ground. Because the historical evidence is thin and partly speculative, the safest conclusion is that Lamas is a surname of uncertain origin with possible Romance-language roots.
History
The name is documented in older French and English surname lists, and it also occurs in Spanish, where it could overlap with local place-names. In English records it seems to have remained relatively uncommon. The surname may have entered different families independently in more than one Romance-speaking area.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname writer noted that a related form, Lammasse, appears in medieval English records, showing how easily the name could shift in spelling over time.
From the historical record
“manr, p. 14. ia|x Married— > John Lamas and Sara Donaldson: St las. Clerkenwell, i. 75. London, a ; Ozford,3 ; MDa(NorfolkX i.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)