Plaza (surname)


Plaza is a Spanish-language surname that is understood to originate in the Basque Country. It is common in this area, and has spread across Spain as well as Latin America and the Philippines, including prominent political families.

Origin

The surname Plaza originates in Spain. It can derive from the common noun plaza as a toponymic surname. defined De la Plaza as a habitational surname, to identify someone within a town by a local feature near which they lived. In their dictionary, and wrote of Plaza as an example of a common noun becoming a surname. Juan Sebastián Elián noted that the word "plaza" also came to refer to markets and fairs, which could be alluded to when taken as a surname. The related name Plazaola originally referred to the plaza of a ferrería. S. C. Mora Monroy cited Plaza as a surname of economic terminology, along with Mercado and Feria. Plaza is a well-known surname in the Basque country, from where it is understood to originate.
Research for the University of the Basque Country explained that, besides instances of the name deriving from the common noun, Plaza can be an oeconym from specific locations in the Basque country, pointing to the Plaza family house of Zugarramurdi, in Navarre, and a neighborhood of nearby Sare, in Labourd. Traditionally in the Basque country, individuals could become known by oeconyms rather than surnames. Jorge de Montemor wrote that the surname Plaza originated primitively in "the mountains of Aragon" before this family settled in the Navarre merindad of Estella, with the one house branching across Spain, while Elián wrote that the name was first known in Balmaseda in the Basque region of Biscay before extending to Navarre and Aragon, and then the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. As there are many family lines with the name, there are multiple coats of arms.
Even as a Basque surname, Plaza almost certainly comes from the Spanish language. wrote in 1992 that folkloric Basque language etymologies, suggesting that the names derive from a pla- ideophone, were "fanciful". The Spanish word comes from Latin platea, with the meaning of 'broad street' or 'public square', which itself ultimately came from Greek πλατεῖα plateia .

People

Notable people with the surname include: