Lerma
A Spanish surname taken from a place name, most famously the town of Lerma in Burgos, Spain.
The #2,852 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,428 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lerma is a locational surname, originally indicating someone who came from or lived near a place called Lerma. The best-known source is the town of Lerma in Burgos, Spain, which gave rise to a noble territorial name in medieval and early modern Spain. The place-name itself is ancient and probably predates Spanish, so its deeper root meaning is uncertain.
History
The name became especially visible through the powerful House of Lerma, including Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, chief minister to Philip III. As a surname, it is strongly associated with Spain and later Spanish-speaking communities in the Americas. The historical excerpts you provided use Lerma mainly as a noble title or place reference rather than explaining the surname’s linguistic origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Duke of Lerma was one of the most influential political figures in early 17th-century Spain, so the place-name became widely known well beyond its local origin.
From the historical record
“mo hizo el licenciado Diego Matute de Peñafiel, canónigo de Baeza, con las genealogías de Fe- lipe III y del Duque de Lerma. Don Quijote mostró conocer los procedimientos de estos in- dustriales, al confiar en «que podría ser que el sabio que escribiese mi historia deslindase de tal manera mi parentela y…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos