Tejada
A Spanish surname meaning “tile-roof” or “place of tiled roofs,” originally tied to a locality or house name.
The #2,432 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,717 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tejada is generally explained from Spanish tejado, “tiled roof,” ultimately from Latin tegula, “roof tile.” As a surname, it likely began as a habitational name for someone from a place called Tejada or as a topographic name for a house or settlement marked by tiled roofs. The related spelling Tejeda reflects regional and historical variation in the same family of forms.
History
The name is well established in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries, and it appears in older surname lists alongside forms such as Tejeda and Teijeiro. In Spanish onomastic tradition, surnames of this type often arose independently in several places rather than from one single family line. The surname is now carried widely in the Americas through Spanish migration and colonial-era settlement.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The root behind Tejada is the same Latin word family that gave English the architectural term “tile.”
From the historical record
“ze niet uit eikanderen) , in de Nederlanden voorkomende , en my bekend, zijn: Armiroto, Balabrega, D'Almaras, Da Silva, De Castro, De Ruescas, De Zerezo de Tejada, Di Ga- zar, Diaz, Exalto, Exalto d'Almaras, Espantoso, Gon- salves, Pedro, Perez, Rodrigues en Rodriguez. Ik meen dat er onder dezen ook nog zijn, die…”
— De Nederlandsche geslachtsnamen in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis