Quesada
A Spanish surname originally tied to the place name Quesada, with older spellings like Quexada and Quixada.
The #4,509 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,231 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Quesada is a Spanish surname taken from the place name Quesada, most notably the town in Jaén, Andalusia. The historical forms Quexada and Quixada show older Spanish spelling variation, with x later shifting to the modern j sound in many words. In origin, then, it is a locational surname meaning someone from Quesada.
History
The surname is well established in Spain and later spread throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The excerpts show it being listed among Spanish surnames and note earlier spellings, confirming its long-standing Iberian use. It is also found in Latin American records through colonial and postcolonial migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The old spellings Quexada and Quixada preserve an earlier stage of Spanish orthography, before the modern pronunciation pattern settled in.
From the historical record
“Quintana, Zurita, Murillo, Calderon, Cervantes, Saavedra, Quesada, Don Carlos. (Italian.) Tancred, Manfred, Rienzi, Christoforo Colombo, Ameri- cus, Vespueius, - Sebastian Cabot, - Borgia, Barbarossa, Jebe-”
— A Grammar of American Surnames