Salas
A Spanish surname that most often began as a place-name, from a word for halls, rooms, or a house of halls.
The #513 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,716 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Salas is the plural of Spanish sala, meaning a hall, chamber, or large room. In surname use, it likely began as a locational name for someone from a place called Salas or from a settlement identified by its halls or manorial buildings. The deeper root is Latin sala, a word used for a hall or large room.
History
The surname is well established in the Spanish-speaking world and appears early in Iberian records. Nineteenth-century writers also treated it as a locality-based surname, alongside many other Spanish surnames formed from place names. It remains common in Spain and Latin America, and is especially widespread in the modern United States through Hispanic immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In old Spanish surname studies, Salas is often grouped with other names that originally pointed to a town, estate, or settlement rather than to a personal trait.
From the historical record
“cos i se administraba Justicia; estaba rodeado de pórticos i tiendas que ocupaban por la mayor parte los banqueros 'i los vendedores de comestibles; i habia salas espaciosas llamadas basílicas, donde se reunian los tribunales. Se de- riva foro de la palabra fando que significa hablar o bien del rei Foronea, que fué…”
— Diccionario de los apellidos