Salazar_(surname)
Salazar (surname)
Surname list
Salazar is a surname meaning old farmhouse (from Basque Sarasaitzu [old], which then evolved to "Sarasaz," and then to the modern, Castillian form "Salazar").[1] The name originates from the valley of the same name: Salazar Valley, in Navarra, Spain. The surname started appearing during the early Middle Ages.
Its origins are also related to a certain noble family around the 10th century, the Salazar's, that held a fief in the area.[2][3] It later also spread to the rest of the Basque Country, being specially common in Biscay during the 15th century. During that time, Lope García de Salazar, a famous writer, took part in the Reconquista of Cuenca, where he was granted a fief and founded a notable family. Some of his descendants took part in the Conquest of the America, thus spreading the surname all through the Spanish America; others intermarried many noble families, and the surname spread all through the Iberian peninsula.
Salazar is a common in Hispanic America because there were a number of Salazars among the early Spanish conquerors and settlers.[2]
Salazar is also a common surname among Roma people.[3] Due to several censuses made in the Kingdom of Castile during the 14th and 15th centuries, every Castilian subject was forced to take a name and two surnames. The Roma, who used to call themselves only by a first name, decided to take established surnames to add prestige to their families.[4] They chose from among the oldest noble families, usually of Basque origin, thus it is extremely common to find Roma with surnames such as Heredia, Salazar, Mendoza, or Montoya.[5]
