Vega
A Spanish surname meaning “meadow” or “fertile plain,” originally identifying someone who lived by such land.
The #261 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 2,646 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Spanish vega means a low, level, fertile stretch of land, especially a meadow or river plain. The word is usually traced back to Latin, though the exact pre-Roman path is not always spelled out in older surname books. As a surname, it began as a topographic name for someone who lived near or came from such a place.
History
The name is common in Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and it also appears in place-names. Historical surname writers sometimes discussed it as a Spanish locational byname, and Spanish noble and literary families helped make it especially visible. In the Americas it spread widely through colonial-era migration and later population growth.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lope de Vega, one of Spain’s most famous dramatists, helped make the surname especially familiar in literary history.
From the historical record
“Y^Y^R, \i\n\ {J3.), of the Ferry. (?•. Terveer.) VEGA, de la (Sp.)' ^f^^^^ ^^«'«- VELDE, van dc (?D.), of the Field. Velt, in 't, in the Field. VER, le {£.), the Great, Strong, or Powerfid. VERBEEK (P.), Van der beek, Of the hrook. Verboeckhoven, Of the heech-tree courts. Verbruggen, Of the bridges. Ver- KERK, Of…”
— Surnames