Cepeda
A Spanish surname likely from a place-name associated with brambles or brushwood.
The #3,112 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,680 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cepeda is a Spanish habitational surname, taken from a place called Cepeda. The name is commonly linked to Spanish cepa/cepa- words for a vine stock or stump, though in older surname literature it is also explained as referring to rough ground or scrubby vegetation. In practice, it most likely began as a place-name meaning a brushy, thicket-like area.
History
The surname is well established in Spain and spread widely through the Spanish-speaking world during the colonial period. It is especially familiar in Iberian and Latin American records, where many surnames of this type arose from localities or rural landscape features. The historical sources provided also treat Cepeda as a toponymic name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Several Spanish surnames ending in -eda come from places named for vegetation or terrain, which is why they often sound more like landscape terms than personal names.
From the historical record
“mentos. Cepeda. Sitio abundante en brezos, Cepo. Pieza de madera gruesa ¡i alta de mas de dos piés, en que se fijan i asientan las bigonias, yunque, tornillo 1 . otros instrumentos de los herreros i cerrajeros. Prisiones. . Cepo.”
— Diccionario de los apellidos