Soares
A surname of uncertain English origin in some older sources, though today it is most strongly associated with Portuguese and Spanish naming traditions.
The #3,069 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,402 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In Iberian usage, Soares is a well-known patronymic surname, historically meaning "son of Soeiro" (an old personal name). The provided historical source, however, also records an older English speculative explanation linking Soares to forms such as Soar or Soar(e)'s, which would treat it as a surname built from a personal name rather than a place. Because the excerpt is compressed and partly ambiguous, the safest summary is that the name has at least one patronymic line of development and may also have been read through an English surname tradition in older scholarship.
History
Soares is common in Portugal and in Portuguese-speaking communities worldwide, where it has long functioned as a hereditary surname. In English-language surname books of the early 20th century, it was sometimes discussed alongside similar-looking surnames and occasionally given speculative etymologies. Modern use in the United States largely reflects immigration from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is especially familiar in Portuguese-speaking countries, where many surnames ending in -es preserve an old patronymic pattern meaning "son of."
From the historical record
“Sir Gray Steill, 2306, 2309-10. SOARES, Soar(e)'s (Son) : v. Soap(e. SODEN = Sowden, q.v. SOLE (Eng.) Dweller by a (Muddy) Pond or Pool [Kent, sole; i. O.E. sol, mud, a puddle] In i3th-cent. Kentish rolls we find the surnames ' de la Sole ', 'atte Sole,' and ' de SoUs.'”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)