MENDOZA
Mendoza is a Spanish surname of Basque origin, first documented as a toponymic name linked to the city of Mendoza in northern Spain. The place name derives from the Basque words mendi, meaning mountain, and hotz, meaning cold, so that the surname may be translated as cold mountain or mountain of cold.
Historical records show a variety of spellings – de Mendoza, Mendoza and Mendonca – reflecting the name’s aristocratic status in Spain. The earliest recorded bearer, Garcia Pedro de Mendoza, was christened in 1440 at Jerez de la Frontera in Cadiz, during the reign of King John I of Spain and Aragon (1425‑1479).
The surname is closely linked with the Spanish nobility and to the expansion of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. Pedro de Mendoza (1487‑1537) was the explorer who founded Buenos Aires in 1530 and who played a prominent role in spreading Christianity and Iberian culture throughout South America.
Records from the New World provide additional evidence of the family’s presence. Maria Juliana de Mendoza is listed at San Miguel Arcangel, Mexico, on 9 December 1717; Maria Espinosa Mendoza appears at Santa Catarina, Mexico, on 12 July 1781; Manual Mendoza was christened at the Santa Clara Mission, California, on 2 July 1785; and Mary Martha Mendosa is recorded in Los Gatos, Santa Clara, on 21 September 1879.
The family crest features a silver field, within a blue border, charged with a crimson crescent chequy of gold and black and sprinkled with eight besants.
The name is also associated with a locality in the province of Alva, whose translation is again ‘cold mountain’ from the Basque mendi and otz. These details confirm that the Mendoza surname has a strong toponymic and aristocratic heritage rooted in the Basque and Spanish traditions.
Typical given names associated with the Mendoza surname
Male
- Alexander
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Daniel
- David
- Howard
- Mark
- Michael
- Neil
- Paul
- Steven
Female
- Amanda
- Bertha
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jennifer
- Karen
- Lisa
- Maria
- Mary
- Michelle
- Paula
- Sally
- Sarah
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Mendoza in...
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Morse
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There are approximately 1,036 people named Mendoza in the UK. That makes it roughly the 7,169th most common surname in Britain. Around 16 in a million people in Britain are named Mendoza.
Origin: Iberian
Region of origin: Europe
Country of origin: Spain
Religion of origin: Jewish
Language of origin: Spanish
Famous people named Mendoza
- Mike Mendoza - Radio presenter
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.