Villar
A Spanish surname usually meaning someone from a village or rural estate called a villar.
The #6,186 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,831 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Villar is a Spanish toponymic surname built on Latin villa, meaning a country house, estate, or rural settlement. In medieval Spanish usage, villar could refer to a small village, hamlet, or the land belonging to a settlement, so the surname commonly identified someone who came from a place with that name. It is also found as a place-name element in many Iberian localities.
History
The excerpts show Villar treated as a locality-based surname in Spanish historical onomastics, alongside other place-name surnames such as Villa, Villalba, and Villarubia. It appears in noble-lineage materials as a hereditary family name by the early modern period. The surname is especially common in Spain and Spanish-speaking parts of the Americas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Latin root behind Villar also lies behind many Iberian surnames and place names beginning with Villa- and Villar-.
From the historical record
“te villa. Villar. Villaje. Juego de villar, la mesaen que se juega i cl lugar donde está. Villares. Plural del anterior. Vinagre. Vino acedo ou agrio, natural o artificialmente.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos