Frequency: (437)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Italian: habitational name from any of the Italian places called (La) Cava, from cava ‘hole, cellar’ with the definite article la, or a topographic name for someone who lived by, worked in, or owned a quarry, Italian cava, or perhaps a habitational name from a place named with this word.
2. Spanish, habitational name from either of the two places called La Cava in Attargona and Alicante provinces.
GIVEN NAMES: Italian 13%; Spanish 6%.Carmine (2), Rocco (2), Salvatore (2), Antonio, Domenic, Gaetano, Luigi, Marco, Santina, Saverio; Cesar, Gonzalo, Mario, Oswaldo, Salvador.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
