Urias
A surname ultimately taken from the biblical name Uriah, often reflecting a descendant’s or ancestor’s given name.
The #4,471 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,880 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Urias is a surname formed from the biblical personal name Uriah, with Urias representing a Latinized or Romance-language spelling of the same name. The underlying Hebrew name is usually understood as meaning something like “Yahweh is my light” or “my light is the LORD,” though older sources sometimes give slightly different renderings. As a surname, it most likely began as a patronymic or inherited family name derived from an ancestor named Uriah/Urias.
History
The name appears in biblical lists and was used in Christian naming traditions, which helped it survive into later hereditary surnames. In Spanish- and Latin-influenced records, Urias is a familiar spelling alongside Urías and related forms, and it also occurs in English-language contexts through immigration and record variation. The cited 19th-century source only mentions Urias incidentally among biblical names, supporting the connection to the scriptural personal name rather than giving a separate surname derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Urias is one of several surnames that preserve an old biblical given name in a slightly Latinized form rather than the more familiar English spelling.
From the historical record
“Elon, Manoel, Maooah^ Samson, Elkanah, Eli, SamueU Kish Saul, Obed, Salmon, Jesse, Jonathan, David, Sol- omon, Absalom, Nabal, Bani, Uriah, Urias, Goliah, Goliath, Nathan, Sadock, Zadock, Amnon, Robohm (Rehoboam), Jerbom (Jeroboam), Hiram, Nyrum (Niram), Jahoda (Je- hoiada), - Asa, Hezekiah, Amon, Jochim, Joachim…”
— A Grammar of American Surnames