Frequency: (502)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Galician, Asturian-Leonese and Spanish: habitational name from Vara (Galicia), Vara del Rey (Cuenca), or La Vara (Asturies).
2. Portuguese and Spanish: from vara ‘rod’, ‘stick’, ‘yardstick’ (Late Latin vara ‘forked stick’), applied as a nickname or metonymic occupational name in any of various possible senses; it may have been given to a keeper of animals, who used a stick to urge his charges on, or to an official who was responsible for checking weights and measures or who carried a rod as a symbol of his office.
GIVEN NAMES: Spanish 28%. Jose (7), Manuel (7), Miguel (5), Mario (4), Alfonso (3), Carlos (3), Ramiro (3), Raul (3), Adalberto (2), Fernando (2), Gerardo (2), Jesus (2); Carmine (5), Fulvio (2), Antonio, Carmela, Cecilio, Federico.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
