Quintana
A common Spanish surname from places called a farmstead, estate, or country house.
The #923 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,199 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Quintana is a place-name surname from Iberian Romance and related regional traditions. In older Spanish usage, quintana could mean a rural dwelling, farmyard, country estate, or a settlement area outside the main town; in some contexts it is connected with quinta, a country house or estate. The word is also associated with Latin quintana, a term used in Roman military camps for the street or space near the fifth gate, which may have influenced some place-names.
History
The surname is widespread across Spain and the wider Spanish-speaking world, where it often arose independently from different places named Quintana. Historical records also show it as a noble or local lineage name in parts of northern Spain. Because many unrelated families could take the same toponymic surname, not every Quintana line shares a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The related form Quintanilla is a diminutive, essentially meaning “little Quintana” or “small estate/place.”
From the historical record
“entre los deudores ¡ los acreedores. Quintana. El atrio que está delante de la puerta del tem- plo i salida sirve de cementerio. Quinto. Calentura cuyos accesos vienen cada cinco dias, entre los que hai tres dias de apirexia. Quintanilla. Diminutivo de Quintana o quinta.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos