Ledesma
A Spanish habitational surname for someone from one of several places called Ledesma, especially the town in Salamanca, Spain.
The #1,768 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,201 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ledesma is a habitational surname, taken from the name of a place rather than from a personal characteristic or trade. The best-known source is the town of Ledesma in Salamanca, Spain; the place-name is generally traced back to a pre-Roman or older Iberian root, though its earliest form is not certain. In surnames, it simply meant "from Ledesma."
History
The surname developed in Spain in the medieval period, when people were often identified by the place they came from. It spread through the Spanish-speaking world with migration to the Americas, and it remains especially common in Spanish-language communities. As with many toponymic surnames, unrelated families may have adopted it independently from the same or similarly named places.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Ledesma is also the name of a historic Spanish town on the River Tormes, which helped make the surname recognizable beyond a single family line.