Manzanares
A Spanish surname tied to places or lands where apple trees grew.
The #4,740 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,276 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Manzanares is a Spanish surname formed from manzana, meaning “apple,” with the suffix -ares used in place names and related forms. In the historical material provided, it is glossed as land planted with apple trees, which fits a locational surname based on a place-name or landscape feature. The literal sense is therefore something like “(the place with) apple trees” or “apple orchard land.”
History
The name is associated with Spanish place-names, most famously the town of Manzanares in Ciudad Real and the Manzanares River in central Spain. Surnames of this type usually began as identifiers for people from such places, and later became hereditary family names. It is now found in Spain and across the Spanish-speaking world, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Manzanares River flows through Madrid, so the surname also echoes one of Spain’s best-known waterways.
From the historical record
“sotros, nombre del Mesías en Isaías. Manzanares. El terreno plantado de manzanos. Manzano. El árbol que'produce la manzana. Marañas. Malezas. Desperdicios de la seda ¡ tejido hecho con él, Enredo de los hilos en las madejas. Embuste. In-”
— Diccionario de los apellidos