Moreira
A Portuguese and Galician surname meaning someone from a place of mulberry trees or a thorny scrubland.
The #3,942 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 34,165 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Moreira is a toponymic surname built from Portuguese and Galician moreira, meaning “mulberry tree” or, by extension, a place where mulberry trees grow. It ultimately goes back to Latin morus, “mulberry.” In some cases the name may also refer to a locality named Moreira, rather than directly to the tree itself.
History
The surname is especially common in Portugal and in Galicia, and it spread widely through Portuguese and Spanish-speaking migration. As with many Iberian surnames, it could arise independently in several places from the same landscape term, so not every family named Moreira shares one ancestor.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Mulberry trees were historically important because their leaves feed silkworms, so a surname like Moreira can hint at an older rural landscape tied to sericulture.