Sandoval
A Spanish surname most commonly linked to a place-name, with its deeper origin debated by older writers.
The #233 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 2,394 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sandoval is generally treated as a Spanish locational surname, meaning someone from a place called Sandoval. The place-name is usually explained as combining a word related to sand with a term for a wooded place or valley, though older scholars disagreed about the exact first element and some proposed Germanic or Gothic origins instead. Because the historical sources are vague and sometimes speculative, the safest explanation is that it is a habitational surname from a Spanish place-name of uncertain deeper formation.
History
The surname is strongly associated with Spain, where it appears in medieval and early modern records and became attached to prominent noble lines. One well-known bearer was Prudencio de Sandoval, a Spanish chronicler and bishop. The name later spread widely in the Spanish-speaking world and is now common across Latin America and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Spanish writers debated Sandoval’s origin so much that Lope de Vega reportedly joked about the argument in verse.
From the historical record
“Christopher Columbus, - Montezuma, - Manka, Capak, - Mama, Ozello, Cortez, Pedro Alvarado, De Leon, Sandoval, Francis Pizaryo, Valverde, Escobar, Ponce De Leon, Her- nando De Soto, Balboa, Ojeda, Iturbide, Antonio Lopez, Santa-ana, Juarez, Paredes, Miramon, Bustamente, Romero, Diaz, Cortina, Maximillian, Carlotta…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames