Alaniz
A Spanish-language surname likely connected to the personal name Alan, with a Hispanicized ending typical of family names from the Iberian and Latin American world.
The #2,189 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,604 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Alaniz is generally understood as a Hispanic surname built on the personal name Alan, itself ultimately of Old Germanic origin. The final -iz ending is a Spanish patronymic-style form found in surnames that developed to mean 'descendant of' or 'family of' a given name. In this case, the name was probably formed in the Iberian world from an Alan-based given name brought in through medieval contact with French and other European naming traditions.
History
The surname is most at home in Spanish-speaking communities, especially in the Americas. It is relatively uncommon as a modern surname and is often treated as a Spanish-language family name of patronymic shape. Because it is not a heavily documented medieval surname in the standard English-language onomastic literature, its exact early local history is not always clear.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In U.S. records, Alaniz is often grouped with other Spanish surnames ending in -iz, a pattern that can make the name look more distinctly Iberian than the simpler base name Alan.