Lares
A surname with a form that looks Hispanic, but whose deeper origin is unclear from the historical sources given.
The #8,700 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 81,830 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical excerpts do not give a surname-specific derivation for Lares. The word is well known in Latin as the name of the Roman household gods, and the sources describe them as protective spirits of the home and family. As a surname, however, Lares is more likely to be a later name formed from a place-name, a nickname, or an inherited family name whose exact origin is not securely established in the excerpts.
History
The sources mainly discuss the Roman lares as mythological figures, not the surname itself. In Spanish-speaking records, Lares can occur as a family name, and it may also be associated with place-names in the Hispanic world, but the excerpts provided do not document a specific line of descent. Because of that, the surname’s history should be treated cautiously rather than as a settled classical derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Roman religion, the lares were household protective spirits, and their images were often kept near the hearth.
From the historical record
“quien Júpiter corta la lengua por haber cortado a Juno sus amores con Juluma; se llamaba la diosa muda, i era tenida por los dioses Lares. Lardo. Lo gordo del tocino. La grasa o unto de los ani- males, Lares. Dioses o jénios domésticos de los antiguos roma-”
— Diccionario de los apellidos