Palomares
A Spanish surname most likely tied to a place-name meaning “pigeon house” or “dove cote.”
The #4,964 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,584 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Palomares is the plural of Spanish palomar, “pigeon house” or “dove cote,” from paloma, “dove, pigeon.” The underlying Latin root is palumbes/palumba, a word for a dove or pigeon. As a surname, it would originally have identified someone from a place called Palomares or from a locality marked by pigeon houses.
History
The name is especially Spanish in form and is common as a toponymic surname, since many Iberian surnames arose from village names or landscape features. The historical excerpts support the sense of Palomares as a plural place-name or related term, and later bearers spread beyond Spain into the Spanish-speaking world and the United States. In modern usage it is found both as a surname and, less often, in place names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older Spanish local terminology, a palomar could be a specially built house for domestic pigeons, so the surname can evoke a very literal “pigeon loft” origin.
From the historical record
“crian.i tienen la casera. Palomares. Plural del anterior. Palomeras. lugares despoblados i razos a los que com baten todos los vientos que corren. Palomar pequeño de palomas domésticas.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos