Montana
A surname that usually points to a mountainous place or person from a mountain region.
The #7,054 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 65,081 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Montana comes from Latin montana, meaning “mountainous” or “of the mountains,” from mons, montis, “mountain.” In Spanish, montaña means “mountain” or “mountain region,” and Montana can function as a place-based surname derived from that idea. The name may also have arisen independently in other Romance-language contexts from the same Latin root.
History
The historical evidence here is mostly indirect, but the sources consistently connect Montana with Latin montana and the notion of a hilly or mountainous district. As a surname, it would most naturally have been used for someone from a mountainous place or for a family identified with such a locality. The spelling is especially familiar in Spanish- and Italian-influenced naming traditions, though the surname can appear in several Romance-language settings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Latin root behind Montana also lies behind words like mountain, mount, and many place-names across Europe.
From the historical record
“(mod. montagne), L.Lat. montanea ; Lat. montana, a hilly district] Montagne-Fayel is in the Somme Dept. MOUNTFORD = Montford = Montfort,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)