Santibáñez
A Spanish surname meaning “from San Tibáñez” or “from the place of Saint Tibáñez,” ultimately tied to a saint’s name.
The #8,512 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,820 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Santibáñez is a Spanish habitational surname built from santo/san, meaning “saint,” plus a place name based on a saintly personal name. In many cases, surnames of this type point to someone who came from a town or village named Santibáñez. The ending -bañez reflects a Spanish place-name and surname pattern, though the exact local origin can vary by family line.
History
This surname is most common in the Spanish-speaking world, especially in Spain and Latin America, where many families inherited it from a geographic origin. Several different places in Spain bear the name Santibáñez or a close variant, so the surname may have arisen independently in more than one region. In the Americas it spread through Spanish colonial migration and later movement across countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Spanish surnames based on saints and place names often preserve the names of small villages long after the family has moved away.