Vegas - Name

Recorded as De la Vega, Vega, De Vegas, Vegas, and possibly others, this is a Spanish surname. It could be either locational from any of the places called Vega or Vegas, although the famous Los Vegas in the USA is almost certainly not a candidate, being later than even the most recent surnames, or more likely it was topographical for somebody who lived at a farm in a fertile plain or valley. Locational surnames are often or usually "from" names. That is to say that they were surnames given to people who had left their original homes to move somewhere else and were most easily identified by being called after that place. It is also a heraldic surname, with several coats of arms. Perhaps the best known has the blazon of a red field charged with a gold eagle displayed. Compared with British records, where the majority of surnames can be traced in public records back to to the Medieval period from after 1066, Spain did not become a unified country until the 16th century, and subsequently records, when found at all, are at best erratic or often non existent. However at least with this surname we have a number of church recordings from the city of Valladolid which may have been the centre of the name. These recordings include Melchor de Vega at Nuestra Sendra de la Antigua, on November 25th 1590, Gonzales Vegas at Villacio de Campos, on February 25th 1668, and Garcia Vegas at Sant Nicholas Pollos, on November 11th 1827.