Vargas
A very common Spanish and Portuguese surname most likely tied to a place-name or landscape term for steep ground or slopes.
The #148 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,776 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Vargas is traditionally treated as a Spanish surname of place-name origin. It is commonly linked to the old word varga, referring to a slope, hillside, or rough stretch of land, so the name would originally have meant someone from a place so described. In some cases it may also have come from a specific locality named Vargas.
History
The surname is well established in Spain and later spread widely through the Iberian world, especially to Latin America. It became common enough to be included among major Spanish surnames in 19th-century onomastic lists. Today it is especially frequent in Spanish-speaking countries and among Hispanic communities in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is widespread enough that it appears in many Spanish-language surname catalogues from the 1800s, reflecting how firmly rooted it already was by that time.
From the historical record
“De los catálogos que se formaron de apellidos de procedencia romana, fué uno de los más nutridos el que hizo Moreno de Vargas, regidor perpetuo de Mérida, escritor erudito é investigador diligentísimo de cuanto atañia á linajes y nobleza. Para muestra de lo que eran tales catálogos, copiaremos el prin- cipio del de…”
— Ensayo histórico etimológico filológico sobre los apellidos castellanos