Astorga
A surname taken from the Spanish city of Astorga, in León, so it is a classic locational family name.
The #7,433 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,901 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Astorga is a locational surname derived from the town and city of Astorga in northwestern Spain. The place name goes back to Latin Asturica Augusta, the Roman name for the settlement, and the surname simply identified someone as being from there. In surname use, it would have originally meant “from Astorga” or “of Astorga.”
History
As a family name, Astorga would have arisen in Spain as people were identified by their place of origin. It is especially plausible as a toponymic surname in Spanish and Hispanic records, and it also appears in noble titles such as the Marqués de Astorga. The name spread to the Americas through Spanish colonial migration and later movement of Spanish-speaking families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Astorga is also the name of a historic Roman and medieval city on the Camino de Santiago route.
From the historical record
“Prado, Merida, Villareal, Castroverde, Alcantara, Saragossa, Barcelona, Malaga, Astorga, Alameda, Alcazar, Montserrat, Ebro, Gaudiana, Almazor, Rounceval (Ronoevalles), Mancha, Lamantia.”
— A Grammar of American Surnames