Nolasco
A Spanish and Portuguese surname originally taken from the given name Nolasco, best known from a medieval saint’s name.
The #3,102 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,595 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Nolasco is a surname formed from the personal name Nolasco, which entered Iberian use through the cult of Saint Peter Nolasco. The name is ultimately linked to the medieval form of a place-name associated with the saint’s origins in the Occitan/French-speaking borderlands, though exact derivation details are not always given consistently in older sources. In surname use, it functions as a family name taken from a bearer’s given name rather than from a trade or physical trait.
History
The surname spread through Spain and Portugal and then to Latin America through colonial and postcolonial migration. It is especially familiar in Spanish-speaking countries because Saint Peter Nolasco was an important medieval religious figure and the founder associated with the Mercedarian order. The surname is relatively uncommon but well established in Iberian and Hispanic naming traditions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Saint Peter Nolasco became so influential in Iberian naming that Nolasco was used both as a surname and as a given name in later centuries.
From the historical record
“Miguel Vergara Roberto Escalante Nolasco Zamorano Arturo Escalante Honorato Farias Emilio Glanter Ramon Fernandez Olga Tapia ' Juan Villamala Juana M. Pinochet Juan J. Valenzuela Toribio Zauayo”
— Diccionario de los apellidosNotable people named Nolasco
- Amaury Nolasco (b. 1970)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.