Macedo
A Portuguese and Galician surname meaning someone from Macedo or, more broadly, from a place named for boxwood.
The #4,201 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,612 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Macedo is a habitational surname from places called Macedo in Portugal and Galicia. Those place-names are usually traced to Late Latin "mace(t)um" or a related form referring to boxwood, so the name likely began as a label for someone from a place associated with box trees. In practice, it functions as a classic locational surname: "the one from Macedo."
History
The surname is well established in the Iberian world, especially in Portugal and areas influenced by Portuguese migration. It also appears in Latin America and in diaspora communities where Portuguese and Galician names spread through emigration. As with many toponymic surnames, it could arise independently from more than one place named Macedo.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Portugal has several localities called Macedo, including Macedo de Cavaleiros, which helped keep the surname geographically rooted.