Sevilla
A Spanish surname that most often points to the city of Seville, originally meaning someone from that place.
The #3,958 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 34,381 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sevilla is a locational surname built from the Spanish name of Seville, the well-known city in Andalusia. The city name comes through Latin forms related to ancient Hispalis and later Arabic and Romance development; as a surname, it would originally have identified someone as being from Sevilla/Seville. In older European onomastic works, the name can sometimes be discussed alongside similar-looking forms, but the Spanish surname itself is best understood as a place-name surname.
History
The surname is especially natural in Spain, where place-based surnames often arose to distinguish migrants and families moving between regions. It also appears in Spanish-language sources from later centuries and has traveled to the Americas through Spanish and Hispanic migration. In English-language works, Sevilla is sometimes mentioned in passing near the better-known given name Sibyl/Sebilla, but that is a separate naming tradition.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The city of Seville was one of the most important urban centers in medieval Spain, so a surname like Sevilla could signal a family’s ties to a major historical hub rather than a small village.
From the historical record
“Old Germ. Sibico, 8th cent. — Eng. Sibbick — Mod. Germ. SiEBECKE. Old German Sevila ? 7tli cent. — English Sibel, Sibley — Mod. German Sybel — French Sevilla ? Sybille ? Eng. SiFFKEN — Mod. German Sieveking. English Sipling. French Sebillon, De Sevelinges.* PATEONYMTCS,”
— The Teutonic Name-System applied to the family names of France, England and Germany