Escalera
A Spanish surname from the word for a staircase or ladder, originally a topographic or house-name nickname.
The #5,271 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,666 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Escalera is the Spanish word for a staircase or ladder, ultimately from Latin scala, meaning "stair" or "ladder." As a surname, it likely began as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a stairway, on a slope with steps, or in a house identified by a staircase. The historical sources you provided treat it plainly as a Spanish lexical surname rather than a clan or place-name in itself.
History
The name appears in Spanish surname lists and word-based surname groupings, showing that it was recognized as a normal hereditary surname in Spanish-speaking areas by the 19th and early 20th centuries. Because it is built from an everyday noun, it may have arisen independently in more than one place. It is now found in Spain and especially in Latin American communities and the U.S. Hispanic population.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Spanish, escalera still means a staircase today, so the surname is one of many that reads like an ordinary household word.
From the historical record
“cillo, Pardillo, Sardina i Salmon; o bien de las partes de un edificio i muebles del menaje, como Casa, Tapiá, Pare- des, Muro, Puerta, Llave, Portal, Escalera, Sala, Cortina, Mesa, Espejo, Parrilla, Botella, Peral, Bodega, Cubas, Pozo, Cuadra, Corral, Caño i Palomar; o bien del reino mineral, como Hierro, Acero…”
— Diccionario de los apellidos