Tafoya
A Spanish surname of uncertain origin, best known in the Americas as a family name with strong New Mexican and Southwestern ties.
The #3,532 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,527 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tafoya is a Spanish-language surname, but its exact origin is not securely established. It is generally treated as a Hispanic surname of uncertain derivation, possibly from a local place-name or an old personal nickname that did not survive clearly in the records. In the Americas, the name became especially associated with Spanish-speaking families in New Mexico and the U.S. Southwest.
History
The surname is well established in New Mexico and neighboring regions, reflecting early Spanish colonial settlement and later migration within the Southwest. It is also found in Mexico and among Hispanic families in the United States more broadly. Because the name’s original European source is unclear, modern references usually describe it as an inherited Spanish surname rather than give a fixed literal meaning.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Tafoya is one of those Hispanic surnames that is easy to trace geographically but hard to pin down etymologically: its regional history is clearer than its literal meaning.