Montemayor
A Spanish surname meaning “May Mountain” or “mountain of May,” originally a place-name surname.
The #4,386 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,089 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Montemayor is a Spanish surname taken from a place-name. It is built from monte, “mountain” or “hill,” and mayor, “greater” or “larger,” so the literal sense is “greater mountain” or “high mountain.” In many cases, surnames of this type point to someone who came from a town or estate called Montemayor rather than directly describing a feature of the family itself.
History
The name is associated with several Spanish places called Montemayor, so it spread as a locational surname in different regions of Spain. It also appears in Hispanic naming traditions carried into the Americas, where it remains relatively uncommon but well established. The historical excerpts provided list Montemayor among Spanish surnames, supporting its recognition as a standard Hispanic family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because mayor once meant “larger” in Spanish, the surname has nothing to do with a civic mayor.
From the historical record
“*Monte-Leone 435. Montemagno 198. v Montemayor 370, *440. Montemont 370. *Montemor 480. * Montenegro 347 , 370, 404.”
— Die Personennamen, insbesondere die Familiennamen