Costa (Italian: [ˈkɔsta], Portuguese: [ˈkɔʃtɐ, ˈkɔstɐ], Galician: [ˈkɔstɐ], Spanish: [ˈkosta], Catalan: [ˈkɔstə, ˈkɔsta]), sometimes Costas, da Costa, Da Costa, or Dalla Costa, is an Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, French, and Greek mostly toponymic surname. The surname spread throughout the world through colonization. It was also a surname chosen by former Jews due to Roman Catholic and other Christian (often forced) conversions.

In Italy, Portugal, Galicia and Catalonia it is derived from the Latin word costa, "rib", which has come to mean slope, coast (close to the sea, or coastline locations) in Romance languages. In Spain, it originates from Catalonia or Galicia, with the Spanish (Castilian) equivalent being Cuesta.^[1]

As of 2014, 71.0% of all known bearers of the surname Costa were residents of Brazil (frequency 1:141), 7.6% of Portugal (1:67), 5.2% of Mozambique (1:255), 3.7% of Italy (1:801), 2.4% of the United States (1:7,460), 1.9% of Guinea-Bissau (1:44), 1.5% of Spain (1:1,531), 1.2% of East Timor (1:49) and 1.2% of Argentina (1:1,809).

In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:141) in the following states:

1. Maranhão (1:46)
2. Amapá (1:60)
3. Pará (1:74)
4. Roraima (1:77)
5. Acre (1:93)
6. Rio Grande do Norte (1:97)
7. Amazonas (1:98)
8. Ceará (1:112)
9. Bahia (1:112)
10. Tocantins (1:113)
11. Sergipe (1:117)
12. Piauí (1:119)
13. Paraíba (1:120)
14. Alagoas (1:131)
15. Federal District (1:131)
16. Minas Gerais (1:140)

In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:801) in the following regions:

1. Liguria (1:214)
2. Sicily (1:374)
3. Piedmont (1:458)
4. Veneto (1:489)
5. Emilia-Romagna (1:676)
6. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (1:763)
7. Lombardy (1:784)

In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:1,531) in the following autonomous communities:^[2]

1. Balearic Islands (1:399)
2. Catalonia (1:667)
3. Galicia (1:672)
4. Region of Murcia (1:845)
5. Valencian Community (1:1,001)

• Manassseh da Costa, The King of Schnorrers

• Marco Dalla Costa (born 1988), an Italian footballer
• Elia Dalla Costa (1872-1961), an Italian cardinal
• Lamberto Dalla Costa (1920-1982), an Italian bobsledder
• Mariarosa Dalla Costa (born 1943), an Italian writer
• Andrea Dalla Costa (born 1974), an Italian visual artist and film maker

• Costa (disambiguation)
• Kosta (surname)

This page lists people with the surname Costa.
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