da Fonseca Surname

4,470th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 125,651 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Brazil
Highest density in:
São Tomé and Príncipe

da Fonseca Surname User-submission:

Source: LATIN; Meaning: CEAS. It is one of the oldest families of Portugal and whose nickname was released too. It seems to come from the lineage of Riba Douro, descended from D. Moninho Viegas, the Gasco, married to D. Validates Trocosendes, whose son was Don Garcia Moniz, who the Moors killed in winning Riba Douro.

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da Fonseca Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Brazil99,5131:2,151209
Angola19,7191:1,369244
France2,5411:26,1403,125
Portugal8781:11,866976
São Tomé and Príncipe6731:26456
Argentina3961:107,9389,124
South Africa3151:171,99319,060
Uruguay2821:12,1691,368
Spain2181:214,45914,428
Cape Verde2051:2,584130
Switzerland1591:51,6546,794
Venezuela921:328,3057,307
England641:870,59545,570
United States561:6,472,481306,764
Chile551:320,3009,085
Namibia551:43,8075,665
Paraguay461:157,3213,198
Canada361:1,023,48976,466
Mozambique361:757,2661,613
Australia361:749,88148,970
Luxembourg341:17,0753,795
Netherlands241:703,63256,027
Dominican Republic231:453,60614,824
Belgium211:547,45951,586
Peru201:1,589,20622,980
Senegal181:809,9632,817
Iceland171:22,3581,772
Qatar161:147,37516,023
India111:69,733,217610,955
Andorra101:8,3841,259
East Timor91:135,103179
Sweden91:1,094,08481,336
Thailand91:7,848,705447,191
New Zealand81:566,04034,598
Germany71:11,500,780305,602
Northern Ireland51:369,00715,220
Italy41:15,289,172132,955
Guyana41:190,5559,777
Scotland31:1,784,60641,943
Ecuador31:5,301,94930,184
Denmark31:1,881,57267,227
China21:683,660,78330,601
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
Morocco11:34,476,099111,471
Zimbabwe11:15,438,240133,260
Wales11:3,094,53244,023
Austria11:8,515,435118,036
United Arab Emirates11:9,162,273135,437
Congo11:4,989,09634,171
Czechia11:10,633,469206,023
Swaziland11:1,298,1991,718
Saudi Arabia11:30,855,81763,028
Hong Kong11:7,335,48316,643
Romania11:20,077,87089,414
Kenya11:46,179,900103,372
Liechtenstein11:38,3781,726
Mexico11:124,126,205103,776
Norway11:5,142,286129,201
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England81:3,046,92180,371

The alternate forms: da Fonsêca (14) & da Fonséca (3) are calculated separately.

da Fonseca Surname Meaning

User-submitted Reference

Source: LATIN; Meaning: CEAS. It is one of the oldest families of Portugal and whose nickname was released too. It seems to come from the lineage of Riba Douro, descended from D. Moninho Viegas, the Gasco, married to D. Validates Trocosendes, whose son was Don Garcia Moniz, who the Moors killed in winning Riba Douro. This was the father of D. Rodrigo Garcia, the father of D. Garcia Rodrigues, who was called da Fonseca to have the landlord of this place, and he took the Moors to know brother D. Palo Garcia. He was also master of Couto of Leomil, by donation of Count Henry in the year 1102, and married to D. Diordia Ramires, daughter of King Ramiro Pinhones, Lord of Table, who had Egas D. Garcia da Fonseca, called Bufo, successor of the landlords of the Couto Leomil and Fonseca of honor, rich-man, husband of D. Increased. Parent Curveira, daughter of D. Paio Pires Romeo. From this marriage descended the Fonseca, the Coutinhos and other families. The honor of Fonseca was at St. Martin of Moors. The bishop of Malacca, João Ribeiro Gaio, left between their quintilhas dedicated to Fonseca, saying: Of the main Fontojos very family senators proceeds this coat just where it comes from many firsts of Castile and Portugal. Fonseca have maintained a position of nobility preponderance until at least the century. XV, when the eldest branch ran afoul of the Crown of Portugal and its leaders exiled in Castile.

- mauricio1

da Fonseca Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name da Fonseca Come From? nationality or country of origin

da Fonseca is borne by more people in Brazil than any other country/territory. It can also be found as a variant: da Fonsêca or da Fonséca. For other potential spellings of this last name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name da Fonseca? popularity and diffusion

It is the 4,470th most frequently held surname globally. It is borne by approximately 1 in 57,998 people. da Fonseca is mostly found in The Americas, where 80 percent of da Fonseca reside; 80 percent reside in South America and 79 percent reside in Luso-South America.

It is most numerous in Brazil, where it is carried by 99,513 people, or 1 in 2,151. In Brazil da Fonseca is mostly concentrated in: Minas Gerais, where 21 percent reside, São Paulo, where 17 percent reside and Rio de Janeiro, where 16 percent reside. Barring Brazil da Fonseca is found in 57 countries. It is also common in Angola, where 16 percent reside and France, where 2 percent reside.

da Fonseca Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of da Fonseca has changed through the years. In England the number of people bearing the da Fonseca last name expanded 800 percent between 1881 and 2014.

da Fonseca Last Name Statistics demography

The amount da Fonseca earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 101.68% more than the national average, earning R 479,268 per year; in United States they earn 84.4% more than the national average, earning $79,567 USD per year and in Canada they earn 7.36% more than the national average, earning $53,338 CAD per year.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to da Fonseca
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis