Frequency: (5775)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Spanish, Galician, Aragonese, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places called with Salas, like Salas and Salas de los Barrios, (Galicia), Salas de los Infantes, (Burgos province), Salas Altas and Salas Baxas (Aragon), from the plural of Sala.
2. Catalan and Asturian-Leonese: variant of Sales.
3. Americanized spelling of Hungarian Szálas, a nickname from szálas ‘tall’.
GIVEN NAMES: Spanish 45%; Portuguese 9%. Jose (114), Juan (89), Manuel (55), Jesus (54), Carlos (50), Luis (46), Pedro (35), Raul (27), Francisco (26), Miguel (26), Ruben (26), Ricardo (24); Duarte, Godofredo, Joaquim, Zaragoza.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
