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Mena (surname)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mena (also: Spanish: de Mena, Basque: Menaca) is a Spanish surname that originates as both a Basque[1][2][3][4] and Spanish Sephardic[5][6] surname.

It is also a given name, Mena. The Meena tribe of India is also spelled as Mena.

Basque meaning

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Found in the valley of Mena (Alava, which today is Burgos), with branches in Bilbao and in Dima (Biscay) and it appears to have also moved from there into Navarre; regions now part of Spain. It appears to mean mineral or a vein of mineral deposits, however at least one author, Lopez Mendizabal, holds that its meaning is pastoral. A variant of the surname is Menaca, with the '-ka' suffix representing "place of", as in "place of Mena", equivalent to the Spanish "de Mena".[2]

Notable people with the name

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Alvarez, Grace de Jesus C. (1 December 2014). Topónimos en apellidos hispanos. Garden City, N.Y., Adelphi University. ISBN 9788470392115.
  2. ^ a b Xabier Ormaetxea; Susan Ybarra. "MENACA (also MENA)". Buber's Basque Page. Blas Pedro Uberuaga.
  3. ^ Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia. Fundacion Bernardo Estornés Lasa Funtsa https://archive.today/20141202024322/http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/94202. Archived from the original on 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2014-12-02. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ "MENA". Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia (in Basque). Fundacion Bernardo Estornés Lasa Funtsa.
  5. ^ Rabbi Monique Susskind Goldberg (November 2004). "GENEALOGY - MEXICAN/JEWISH. THE ANSWER". Schechter on Judaism: Ask the Rabbi. The Schechter Institutes. Archived from the original on 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
  6. ^ G.Serrano Fenn (5 February 2009). "Issues affecting the lives of the hidden Sephardic Jews known as "B'nai Anusim"*". The Repercussions of Losing The Sephardic Identity. Sephardim Hope International. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010.