Rentería
A Spanish surname most likely tied to land held or taken for rent, especially from the Basque area in northern Spain.
The #1,256 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,036 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a habitational surname from a place called Rentería in Gipuzkoa, Spain. The place-name has been connected with a meaning like 'land taken on rent' or 'rented land,' reflecting the old Spanish word renta, 'rent.' The form was then carried into surname use as people were identified by origin from that place.
History
Rentería is strongly associated with the Basque Country and later spread through Spain and the Spanish-speaking world. It is well known today in Mexico and the United States, where it has become a fairly common Hispanic surname. The historical excerpt supplied points to the place-name meaning, though it does not by itself fully document the surname’s complete origin story.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is also the name of a municipality in Gipuzkoa, which likely helped anchor it as a family name.
From the historical record
“cosa. Lo que paxa el arrendatario. Renteria. La tierra o pago tomado en renta. Resina. Materia untosa e inflamable que sudan ciertos árboles. ' Retamal. Sitio poblado de retamos.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos