Montes
A Spanish surname meaning “hills” or “mountains,” originally used for someone living by or near mountainous ground.
The #723 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 6,413 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Montes is the plural of Spanish monte, meaning a hill, mountain, or wooded upland. The word goes back to Latin mons, montis, “mountain.” As a surname, it most likely began as a topographic name for someone who lived near the hills or in a mountainous district. In some cases it may also have functioned as a regional surname, simply identifying a person from a place called Montes or from a mountainous area.
History
The name is common in the Spanish-speaking world and also appears in records from medieval and early modern Spain. Historical onomastic works group it with other place-based surnames such as Montañés and Navarro, and Spanish surname lists often treat it as a geographical byname. In the Americas it spread through Spanish colonization and later migration, which helped make it relatively widespread today.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because montes can mean not just mountains but also rough, wooded uplands, the surname may point to a hilly landscape rather than a tall peak specifically.
From the historical record
“grace. As for the suggestion of my worthy and learned friend, Jlr. Joseph Maynard, borro\\'ed fi-om Buxtorfius that such who did 'hiliabitare montes gib- berosos' were called Gulibings, such will smile at the ingenuity, who dissent from the truth of the etymo- logy.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom