Sequeira
A Portuguese surname likely tied to places called Sequeira, ultimately from a word for brushwood or scrubland.
The #9,006 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,030 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sequeira is a Portuguese and Galician surname usually understood as a locational name, referring to someone from a place called Sequeira. The place-name is commonly linked to a word for dry ground, scrub, or brushwood, from Latin roots related to dryness. In other words, the name likely began as “the person from the scrubby/dry place.”
History
The surname is well known in Portugal and also appears in Portuguese-speaking communities beyond Iberia, especially in Brazil and former Portuguese colonies. It is also found among Sephardic Jewish families, which helps explain its presence in diaspora records. The excerpt provided simply lists Sequeira among surnames and does not add an origin explanation, so the etymology here rests on standard onomastic knowledge.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because it is a place-based surname, Sequeira often points to an ancestral home rather than a single original family line.
From the historical record
“1 Da Costa, Spinosa, Da Cunha, Carvalho, De Pinto, Diaz, Vaz, Santilhano, Pinedo, Pereira, Salvador, Ferares, Meiides, Chuma- ceiro, Del Oanho, Alveres Vega, Sequeira, Sarphati, Oliveira, Sal- zedo, De Lima (en verbasterd De Lieme), Capadose, De Leon, Cardozo, Caminha, D'Andrade, De Souza, De Miranda, Montanhes…”
— De Nederlandsche geslachtsnamen in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis