Aguiar
A Portuguese and Galician surname usually tied to a place-name, often understood as someone who came from or lived near an aguia- or eagle-associated locality.
The #4,227 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,799 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Aguiar is a habitational surname from the Iberian Peninsula, especially Portugal and Galicia. It is generally linked to place-names containing the old root for an eagle, from Latin 'aquila' and related forms that produced Portuguese 'águia' and Galician 'aguia' ('eagle'). In that sense, the name likely meant 'place of eagles' or a settlement associated with eagles.
History
The surname is long established in Portugal and Galicia, where several towns and estates bear the name Aguiar. Like many Iberian locational surnames, it spread through migration, colonial expansion, and later diaspora to Latin America and beyond. In modern usage it is especially common in Portuguese-speaking communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Aguiar appears in the names of several Portuguese municipalities, helping explain why the surname is so widely understood as geographic rather than occupational.