Serna
A Spanish surname originally linked to farmland or to corvée labor done on a lord’s demesne.
The #1,390 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,106 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In Spanish, serna could mean a plot of cultivated land or land worked as part of a feudal obligation. The surname is therefore usually taken to come from a place-name or topographic term based on that word. The ultimate Latin root is often connected with serviceable or cultivated ground, though older sources do not always agree on the exact development.
History
The word appears in medieval Spanish documents for compulsory farm labor owed to a lord, which helped it survive in both social and place-name use. As a surname, Serna is especially common in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, and it often began as a habitational name from a locality called La Serna or a similar place. The name spread to the Americas through Spanish migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In medieval Castilian usage, a serna was not just a field but also the day’s required labor on that field for a lord or monastery.
From the historical record
“para rondar de noche por las calles. Serna. Cierta clase de tierra de labor. Seron. Especie de cera mas larga que ancha, que sirve regularmente para la carga de caballeria. | Serpa. Sarmiento largo de la vid.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos