Show ContentsCespedes History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Cespedes

What does the name Cespedes mean?

The noble family name Cespedes is of Spanish descent. It is taken from a place name near which the original bearer of the name presumably lived or held land. The name has been taken from the place name Cespedes, and thus means "he who hails from Cespedes." The place name Cespedes is derived from the Spanish "cesped," meaning "grass or lawn" and refers to the beautiful lawns maintained by the Moors when they occupied Spain.

Early Origins of the Cespedes family

The surname Cespedes was first found in the province of Burgos in the north central region of Castilla la Vieja.

Early History of the Cespedes family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cespedes research. Another 133 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1538 and 1608 are included under the topic Early Cespedes History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cespedes Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Cespedas, Cesped and others.

Early Notables of the Cespedes family

Prominent among bearers of the Cespedes family name at this time was

  • Pablo de Cespedes (1538-1608), a painter from Cordoba whose celebrated work "La Cena" is displayed in the cathedral of that city

Cespedes Ranking

In the United States, the name Cespedes is the 14,099th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1


Cespedes migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Cespedes Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Pedro De Cespedes, who landed in America in 1811 2
  • Alonso De Cespedes, who landed in America in 1812 2
  • Juan De Cespedes, who arrived in Peru in 1834 2

Cespedes migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 3
Cespedes Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century
  • Fernando De Cespedes, who landed in Cuba in 1834 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Cespedes (post 1700) +

  • Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, American politician, Mayor of Key West, Florida, 1875-76. Cuban ancestry 4
  • Angel María Céspedes (1892-1956), poet and diplomat in Colombia
  • Luis Pacheco y Céspedes, Peruvian composer


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
  4. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, December 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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