Mercado
A Spanish surname meaning “market,” originally referring to someone who lived by, worked in, or came from a market place.
The #555 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,081 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mercado comes from Spanish mercado, meaning “market,” a word ultimately from Latin mercatus, “trade” or “market.” As a surname, it most likely began as a place-based name for someone associated with a market area, or sometimes as an occupational name for a market trader. The same root also lies behind a family of Romance words for commerce and buying and selling.
History
The surname is well established in the Spanish-speaking world and is especially common in Spain and Latin America. Historical sources also show Mercado used in descriptions of place-based bynames such as “de mercado,” reinforcing its link to a market location rather than to a personal trait. In the modern era it spread widely through Spanish colonial migration and later diaspora.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Mercado is one of several surnames built from everyday commercial vocabulary, alongside names like Mercado’s Latin cousin Mercator (“merchant”).
From the historical record
“Feria. Dia de la semana ecepto el sábado i domingo. Des- canso del trabajo. Mercado en paraje público. Sitio en que tienen lugar. Los dias en que están cerrados los tribunales, ¡suspendido el curso de las dilijencias i negocios de justicia. Llámase así a feriendis victimis porque los dias en que se cerraban…”
— Diccionario de los apellidos