Montesdeoca
A Spanish habitational surname likely meaning “mountain of the place called Deoca” or “from Deoca,” with roots in a local place-name.
The #5,922 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,049 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Montesdeoca is a Spanish surname built from mountes, the plural of monte meaning “mountain” or “hill,” plus a place-name element Deoca. In surnames, such combinations usually point to someone who came from, lived near, or held land in a locality identified by that name. The exact geographic source of Deoca is not certain from general evidence alone, but the form strongly suggests a toponymic origin.
History
As with many Spanish and Spanish-American surnames, Montesdeoca likely began as a local identifier and later became hereditary. The surname is especially plausible in regions where compound toponymic surnames developed in medieval or early modern Spain and were carried to the Americas through migration. Its relatively low U.S. count fits a surname that is regionally concentrated rather than broadly distributed.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Compound Spanish surnames with de often preserve a tiny piece of medieval geography, even when the original place-name is no longer widely known.