Cruz is a surname of Iberian origin, first found in Castile,[citation needed] Spain, but later spread throughout the territories of the former Spanish and Portuguese Empires. In Spanish and Portuguese, the word means "cross", either the Christian cross or the figure of transecting lines or ways. For example, in the Philippines, the adopted Tagalog word is rendered to "krus" in plain usage, but the Spanish spelling survives as a surname.
The word "Cruz" (Spanish for "Cross"), as well as "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross") and "Santa Cruz" ("Holy Cross") are used as surnames and toponyms. Its origin as a surname particularly flourished after the Alhambra Decree of 1492 and the increasing activities of the Spanish Inquisition, when New Christian families with Crypto-Jewish, Moorish, and/or mixed religious heritage converted to the state-enforced religion of Catholicism and subsequently fashioned and adopted surnames with unambiguous religious affiliation.
This page lists people with the surnameCruz. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
Related Research Articles
Carlos is a masculine given name, and is the Maltese, Portuguese and Spanish variant of the English name Charles, from the Germanic Carl.
Pérez is a very common Castilian Spanish surname of patronymic origin.
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name Hludowig or Chlodovech. Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: Luís in Portuguese and Galician, Lluís in Aragonese and Catalan, while Luiz is archaic in Portugal, but common in Brazil.
Morales is a Spanish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Juan is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of John. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippines, and also in the Isle of Man. The name is becoming popular around the world and can be pronounced differently according that region. In Spanish, the diminutive form is Juanito, with feminine form Juana, and feminine diminutive Juanita.
Rodríguez is a Spanish patronymic surname of Germanic origin and a common surname in Spain and Latin America. Its Portuguese equivalent is Rodrigues.
Ramos is a surname of Spanish and Portuguese origin that means "bouquets" or "branches". Notable people with the surname include:
Gómez is a common Spanish patronymic surname of Germanic origin meaning "son of Gome". The Portuguese and Old Galician version is Gomes, while the Catalan form is Gomis. The given name Gome is derived from the Visigothic word guma, "man", with multiple Germanic cognates with the same meaning, which are related to Latin homo, "man".
Santos is a Spanish surname with several variations. It can also be a Portuguese and Galician surname. The English translation of Santos is Saints. A singular version, Santo, may occur. Origin: Christian, from Latin sanctus.
Torres is a surname in the Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish languages, meaning "towers".
Hernández is a widespread Spanish patronymic surname that became common around the 15th century. It means son of Hernán, Hernando, or Fernando, the Spanish version of the Germanic Ferdinand. Fernández is also a common variant of the name. Hernandes and Fernandes are their Portuguese equivalents.
Fernández is a Spanish patronymic surname meaning "son of Fernando" of Germanic origin. The Germanic name Ferdinand that it derives from means "brave traveler." The Portuguese version of this surname is Fernandes. The Arabized version is Ibn Faranda and it was used by the Mozarabs and Muwallads in Al-Andalus. Fernández was on the list of Officers and Sailors in the First Voyage of Columbus. The name is popular in Spanish speaking countries and former colonies. The Anglicization of this surname is Fernandez.
Sánchez is a Spanish family name.
Castro is a Castilian surname popular in Spanish and Portuguese countries, coming from Latin castrum, meaning a castle or fortress. Its English equivalent is Chester.
Garcia, Gartzia or García is an Iberian surname common throughout Spain, Portugal, Andorra, the Americas, and the Philippines. It is a surname of patronymic origin; García was a very common first name in early medieval Iberia.
Martínez is a common surname in the Spanish language. Martínez is the most common surname in the Spanish regions of Navarre, La Rioja, Cuenca and Murcia. There are also variations such as San Martin and Martín.
Blanco is a surname of Spanish origin, meaning "white". Notable people with the surname include:
Orlando is a masculine given name, originally an Italian form of the given name Roland.
López or Lopez is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", Lope itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin lupus, meaning "wolf". Its Portuguese and Galician equivalent is Lopes, its Italian equivalent is Lupo, its French equivalent is Loup, its Romanian equivalent is Lupu or Lupescu and its Catalan and Valencian equivalent is Llopis.
Rivera is a surname of Spanish and Italian origin which was the old spelling of ribera, the Spanish word for "riverbank".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
