Valdés is a Spanish
toponymic surname of
Asturian origin. Its appearance has been dated back to the times of the
Reconquista in the municipality of
Valdés, Asturias, where the eponymous lineage began. The area around the current town of
Luarca was known as Val de Ese, "valley of the river Ese", as attested in medieval documents.[1] This river would later be known as the
Esva River. According to Luis de Valdés' Memorias (1622), the river itself took its name from the letter
s (ese in Spanish) due to its similar shape, although this is considered unlikely.[1]
During medieval times the surname was taken by many families living in the area around Luarca, which make is difficult to establish demarcations between families of the time.[1] By the 14th century, the surname had spread throughout the
Kingdom of Castile, and later all of the
Iberian peninsula. During the colonization of the Americas, the surname became established there, where many variations appeared, such as Valdez (by analogy with the Spanish
patronymic-ez).
The French surname Valdès or Vaudès, from
Peter Valdes, founder of the
Waldensian religious movement, is unrelated to the Spanish surname. Instead, it derived from the Latin Valdesius, which referred to
Vaulx-en-Velin,
Lyon, his place of origin.[2]
People with the surname Valdés
Aaron Valdes (born 1993), American basketball player
^Benoît, Félix; Benoît, Bruno (2007). Hérésies, diableries et sorcelleries à Lyon et sa région (in French). Lyon, France: Traboules. p. 12.
Surname list
This page lists people with the
surnameValdés. If an
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