Posada
A Spanish surname that originally meant someone who lived by or worked at an inn or lodging house.
The #4,751 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,420 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Posada comes from Spanish posada, meaning an inn, lodging, or stopping place. The word ultimately goes back to Latin positus, from ponere, “to place,” with the sense of a place where one is put up or where travelers stay. As a surname, it likely began as a name for someone associated with such a place, or for a person who lived near one.
History
The surname is especially associated with Spain and the Spanish-speaking world, and it also appears in many place-names. In Hispanic naming practice, surnames like Posada often arose independently in different localities from common vocabulary words. It is found today in Spain and throughout Latin America, as well as in diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Posada is also a common Spanish word for an inn, guesthouse, or roadside lodging, so the surname is transparently meaningful in modern Spanish.
From the historical record
“of the dark. The following are the principal pic- tures painted by him in his second style : — ' The Spanish Posada;' 'The Maid of Saragossa;' 'The Guerilla's Departure;' 'The Guerilla's Return;' 'John Knox Preaching before Mary Queen of Scots,' exhibited in 1832; 'Spanish Monks,' ex- hibited in 1833 ; ' Not at…”
— The Scottish Nation, vol. 3