Vasquez

Vázquez (also spelled Vásquez, Vasques), in non-Spanish-speaking countries often spelled as Vazquez or Vasquez, is an originally Galician surname, in use not only in Galicia but all over the Spanish-speaking world.

This article is about the name. For the musical group, see Vásquez (band). For the Cuban village, see Vázquez (Puerto Padre).

Overview

To a lesser extent it also occurs in Portuguese-speaking countries (spelled Vasques), where Vasco as surname is also used. Vasquez means "[son] of Vasco" and Vasco comes from the pre-Roman latinized name "Velascus" - a name of uncertain origin and meaning, but probably meaning Basque or Iberian. In Galician-Portuguese the pre-Roman name becomes Velascu > Veascu > Vaasco > Vasco.

It is known that in some Spanish-speaking countries, families of non-Iberian ancestry have also adopted this surname. In Colombia and Argentina, there have been instances of "Watzke" and "Watzka" families, of German-Czech descent, Hispanicizing their surnames to "Vasquez". The surname was chosen as being the one most closely resembling their former name; in Italy a similar phenomenon was noted with some "Watzke" changing to "Vasco".[1]

There are also Spanish cognate surnames Velasco or Velázquez.[2]

List of people with this surname

References
  1. Genealogical research of the Watzke family; also personal account by Flavio Watzka of Barcelona.
  2. Ferreiro, M. Gramática Histórica Galega, pp.84, ISBN 84-87847-68-4
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