Are all Spanish surnames derived from Spain?

Question

I know that sounds really stupid but...some last names that do not sound Spanish like Bardem, are in fact Spanish. What about the last name Romero? Is it Spanish?

Answer 1

I don't know about Romero.

My mother's surname Santoscoy is not Spanish, but Basque.

Answer 2

mostly much of them are some come from portugal

Answer 3

This site partially explains

http://spanish.about.com/cs/culture/a/su...

This might be better one !

http://www.tusapellidos.com/surnames.htm

A list of Spanish last names/surnames ..........

.........Rojo Rollero Roma Romero Romo etc..........

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/spanish-s

Answer 4

I know a few, Valasquez, Gomez, Pacheco, Cortez, Martinez, Perez, Caro, Rodriguez, Dominque.  Roberto is more of a first name.

Answer 5

actually many surnames also come from many nearby countries like france and some are even from africa. for example mine is Carranza and that is actually french

Answer 6

Most Spanish names derive from Latin which was the "vulgate language" of Western Europe. Some of the names floated in from France, Belgium and the Netherlands by virtue of their close proximity and frequent business dealings. Some came from intermarriages amongst Europeans and simple migrations of people.

You ask about Bardem. It's as French as it is Spanish. Quite possibly it came from one of the Basque areas or even from France itself as someone fled for one reason or another. Also as possible is that some fled from Spain and took the name to France. The funny thing about names is that they're portable. They don't belong to just one country and sometimes are so common that they're found in many countries. When you get into the countries that speak the Romance languages and were all very Catholic once upon a time, it gets even more common that the names float across borders.

As for Romero, it comes from Latin and is found in Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. So it's got deep roots.