Varela
A Spanish and Portuguese surname most often linked to a place name or a farm/field term, and widely found in the Iberian world and beyond.
The #1,321 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,598 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Varela is generally explained as a surname formed from a place name rather than from a personal characteristic. In Iberian naming practice, many surnames came from villages, estates, or landscape features, and Varela fits that pattern well. The underlying word is usually connected with a local-name element in western Iberian Romance, though the exact root is not certain enough to state with complete confidence.
History
The surname is especially associated with Spain and Portugal, and it also spread widely through Galicia and later to Latin America through migration. In many cases it appears as a toponymic surname taken from a small locality or rural holding called Varela. Because it is common in the Iberian Atlantic world, it is found today in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities across the Americas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is common enough in the Iberian diaspora that it appears in multiple countries’ records, even though its exact earliest place-name source is not always easy to pin down.