Meaning & History
Etymology
Ferreira is a Galician and Portuguese surname. It denotes a person from a town named after its proximity to an iron mine, deriving from the Latin ferrum meaning "iron". The name is toponymic, referring to places or features associated with iron.
Variants and Related Names
Related surnames include the Galician variant Ferreyra and Italian Ferrara and Ferri, Ferro; Spanish Fierro and Herrera; and Aragonese/Catalan Hierro.
Distribution and Statistics
According to the 2010 United States Census, Ferreira is the 1260th most common surname in the US, with 27,898 bearers. Among them, 66.54% are White and 26.05% are Hispanic/Latino.
Notable Bearers
Notable individuals with the surname Ferreira include Portuguese footballer Paulo Ferreira, Brazilian author and physician Júlio Ferreira, and Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade (full name Mayra Santos Ferreira). When used as a first name for African-American women, Ferreira exemplifies a pattern of adopting surnames as given names.
Key Facts
- Meaning: Iron (from Latin ferrum)
- Origin: Galician and Portuguese
- Type: Toponymic surname
- Usage Regions: Galicia, Portugal, Brazil, former Portuguese colonies, and globally through diaspora