Plasencia
A Spanish surname from the place name Plasencia, originally meaning someone from that city.
The #4,079 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,447 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Plasencia is a habitational surname taken from the Spanish city of Plasencia in Extremadura. The place name is usually linked to Latin placentia, meaning "pleasing" or "agreeable," though the exact naming history of the city is medieval and place-name scholars treat the details with some caution. As a surname, it simply identified a person who came from or had ties to that place.
History
The surname spread through Spain and later across the Spanish-speaking world, especially into the Americas through migration and colonial-era movement. In modern records it is found most often in Mexico and among Mexican American families in the United States. Spellings with -cia and -sia may reflect local orthography or regional pronunciation, but Plasencia is the standard form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Plasencia is also the name of a historic walled city in western Spain, so the surname is very directly geographic.