Costa (surname)

Costa (Italian: [ˈkɔsta], Portuguese: [ˈkɔʃtɐ, ˈkɔstɐ], Galician: [ ˈkɔstɐ], Spanish: [ ˈkosta], Catalan: [ˈkɔstə, ˈkɔsta]), sometimes Costas, da Costa, Da Costa, or Dalla Costa, is an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. The surname spread throughout the world through colonization. It is also a surname chosen by Jews and other religious groups due to Roman Catholic and other Christian conversions.

Coat of arms of Costa family in Portugal

In Italy, Portugal, Galicia and Catalonia it is derived from the Latin word costa, "rib", which has come to mean slope, coast, in Romance languages. In the rest of Spain it comes from Catalonia or from Galicia, being the Spanish equivalent Cuesta.[1]

Mediaeval Galician inscription in a 14th-century house, in Noia: "ESTAS CASAS MANDOU FAZER VASCO DA COSTA, ERA DE MCCCLXXVII" These houses were ordered by Vasco da Costa, era 1377 (1339 AD)

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 71.0% of all known bearers of the surname Costa were residents of Brazil (frequency 1:141), 7.6% of Portugal (1:67), 5.2% of Mozambique (1:255), 3.7% of Italy (1:801), 2.4% of the United States (1:7,460), 1.9% of Guinea-Bissau (1:44), 1.5% of Spain (1:1,531), 1.2% of East Timor (1:49) and 1.2% of Argentina (1:1,809).

In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:141) in the following states:

  1. Maranhão (1:46)
  2. Amapá (1:60)
  3. Pará (1:74)
  4. Roraima (1:77)
  5. Acre (1:93)
  6. Rio Grande do Norte (1:97)
  7. Amazonas (1:98)
  8. Ceará (1:112)
  9. Bahia (1:112)
  10. Tocantins (1:113)
  11. Sergipe (1:117)
  12. Piauí (1:119)
  13. Paraíba (1:120)
  14. Alagoas (1:131)
  15. Federal District (1:131)
  16. Minas Gerais (1:140)

In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:801) in the following regions:

  1. Liguria (1:214)
  2. Sicily (1:374)
  3. Piedmont (1:458)
  4. Veneto (1:489)
  5. Emilia-Romagna (1:676)
  6. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (1:763)
  7. Lombardy (1:784)

In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:1,531) in the following autonomous communities:[2]

  1. Balearic Islands (1:399)
  2. Catalonia (1:667)
  3. Galicia (1:672)
  4. Region of Murcia (1:845)
  5. Valencian Community (1:1,001)

People

Dalla Costa

See also

References
  1. Coromines, Joan (2008). Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (1a. ed. en esta colección. ed.). Madrid: Gredos. p. 154. ISBN 978-84-473-5862-5.
  2. Costa surname distribution
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