Magana
A surname most often linked to Spanish-language roots, and in some cases to a place name or local nickname.
The #888 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,895 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Magana is usually treated as a Spanish-language surname, but without a specific early citation its exact origin is not certain. It may be connected to a place name or to a local descriptive term that was later inherited as a family name. In many surname traditions, names of this type began as identifiers for someone from a particular town, estate, or district.
History
The surname is found in Spanish-speaking communities and later spread widely through migration to the Americas. In the United States it is especially associated with Hispanic families, and its modern distribution reflects centuries of movement from Spain into Latin America and then northward. Because the name can arise from more than one local source, family histories may not share a single origin point.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The spelling without the ñ is common in English-language records, even when the family’s original form may have been Magaña.