Garcia, Gartzia or García is an
Iberian surname common throughout Spain, Portugal, Andorra, the Americas, and the Philippines. It is a surname of
patronymic origin; García was a very common first name in early medieval Iberia.
Alfonso Irigoyen believed it to derive from the Basque adjective garze(a) meaning "young", whose modern form is gaztea or gaztia.[2][3]Ramón Menéndez Pidal and
Antonio Tovar suggested it may come from the Basque word (H)artz, meaning "(the)
Bear".[2][4][5][6][7] A third etymology suggests it may derive from the Basque words "Gazte Hartz", meaning "(the) young bear".[citation needed] Variant forms of the name include Garcicea, Gartzi, Gartzia, Gartze, Garsea, and Gastea.[8] The original Basque form with an affricate sibilant (/ts/, Basque spelling tz) evolved in Spanish to the current form.
There are
Gasconic cognates of Garcia like Gassie and Gassion[9] (
Béarn, Gassio 14th century,[10] real name of
Edith Piaf, born Edith Gassion).
Other theories suggest that García is of
Germanic origin and may derive from wars meaning young warrior[11] or the
Visigothic words garxa and garcha meaning graceful prince.[12]
Popularity
Most common surname in Spain by province of residence
García is the most common surname in Spain (where 3.32% of the population is named García)[13] and also the second most common surname in Mexico.
In the 1990 United States Census, Garcia was the 18th most reported surname, accounting for 0.25% of the population.[14] It has become more common since then, jumping to eighth place in 2000.[15]
Garcia was quite rare before the First World War in France, except in the French
Pays Basque,[16] but became the 14th most common surname in France (and the eighth for the number of births between 1966 and 1990) due to Spanish immigration.[17][18] It ranked second in the region
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur for the number of births 1966–1990.[19]
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 33.2% of all known bearers of the surname García were residents of Mexico (frequency 1:35), 14.1% of Spain (1:31), 8.4% of the United States (1:402), 6.0% of Colombia (1:74), 4.6% of Venezuela (1:62), 4.4% of Brazil (1:435), 4.1% of the Philippines (1:230), 3.9% of Guatemala (1:39), 3.0% of Argentina (1:134), 2.8% of Cuba (1:38), 2.8% of Peru (1:105), 1.8% of Ecuador (1:83), 1.7% of Honduras (1:48), 1.5% of the Dominican Republic (1:64), 1.4% of Nicaragua (1:41), 1.2% of El Salvador (1:47) and 1.1% of France (1:576).
In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than average (1:31) in the following regions:
This page lists people with the
surnameGarcía. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.
Garcia, Gartzia or García is an
Iberian surname common throughout Spain, Portugal, Andorra, the Americas, and the Philippines. It is a surname of
patronymic origin; García was a very common first name in early medieval Iberia.
Alfonso Irigoyen believed it to derive from the Basque adjective garze(a) meaning "young", whose modern form is gaztea or gaztia.[2][3]Ramón Menéndez Pidal and
Antonio Tovar suggested it may come from the Basque word (H)artz, meaning "(the)
Bear".[2][4][5][6][7] A third etymology suggests it may derive from the Basque words "Gazte Hartz", meaning "(the) young bear".[citation needed] Variant forms of the name include Garcicea, Gartzi, Gartzia, Gartze, Garsea, and Gastea.[8] The original Basque form with an affricate sibilant (/ts/, Basque spelling tz) evolved in Spanish to the current form.
There are
Gasconic cognates of Garcia like Gassie and Gassion[9] (
Béarn, Gassio 14th century,[10] real name of
Edith Piaf, born Edith Gassion).
Other theories suggest that García is of
Germanic origin and may derive from wars meaning young warrior[11] or the
Visigothic words garxa and garcha meaning graceful prince.[12]
Popularity
Most common surname in Spain by province of residence
García is the most common surname in Spain (where 3.32% of the population is named García)[13] and also the second most common surname in Mexico.
In the 1990 United States Census, Garcia was the 18th most reported surname, accounting for 0.25% of the population.[14] It has become more common since then, jumping to eighth place in 2000.[15]
Garcia was quite rare before the First World War in France, except in the French
Pays Basque,[16] but became the 14th most common surname in France (and the eighth for the number of births between 1966 and 1990) due to Spanish immigration.[17][18] It ranked second in the region
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur for the number of births 1966–1990.[19]
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 33.2% of all known bearers of the surname García were residents of Mexico (frequency 1:35), 14.1% of Spain (1:31), 8.4% of the United States (1:402), 6.0% of Colombia (1:74), 4.6% of Venezuela (1:62), 4.4% of Brazil (1:435), 4.1% of the Philippines (1:230), 3.9% of Guatemala (1:39), 3.0% of Argentina (1:134), 2.8% of Cuba (1:38), 2.8% of Peru (1:105), 1.8% of Ecuador (1:83), 1.7% of Honduras (1:48), 1.5% of the Dominican Republic (1:64), 1.4% of Nicaragua (1:41), 1.2% of El Salvador (1:47) and 1.1% of France (1:576).
In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than average (1:31) in the following regions:
This page lists people with the
surnameGarcía. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.