Samano
A Spanish surname most likely tied to the Basque place name Sámano in northern Spain.
The #9,195 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,044 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Samano is most plausibly a locational surname from the place name Sámano in Cantabria, Spain. In that case, the name would originally have meant someone who came from, lived in, or was connected with that place. The historical spelling in older sources often appears without the accent, as Samano.
History
The provided source mentions Sámano as a place where a family settled, which supports a toponymic origin rather than a descriptive one. In Spanish-speaking areas, surnames taken from villages and localities were common and often spread far beyond the original region through migration to the Americas and elsewhere. The modern U.S. presence of the surname fits that wider Spanish and Hispanic diaspora pattern.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Sámano is also the name of a parish and valley area in Castro Urdiales, Cantabria, which makes the surname feel very firmly tied to a real geographic home.
From the historical record
“Mioño — Entre los hijos bastardos de Diego Sánchez Marroquin, hubo otro que se llamó Pero Sánchez Marro- quin, que fué a poblar a Samano, donde se casó con la hija de un clérigo rico. Sus hijos tomaron el apellido Mioño y se llamaron Diego Pérez y Sancho Ortíz de - 257 -”
— Origen de 300 apellidos castellanos y vascongados