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Chaves History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Chaves History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy
Portugal
Spain

The distinguished surname Chaves claims Chaves, in northern Portugal as their ancient homeland and source of their name. As a local surname, the place name and surname are derived from the Latin word "clavis," which means "keys."

Accordingly to ancient records, the family claim descent from Garcia Lopes de Chaves, who, with his brother Rui Lopes de Chaves, captured this town from the Moors in 1160, and so adopted its name as a surname. 1

While the name claims Portugal as it's origin, over the years so many of the family moved to Spain that today it proves difficult to distinguish the two origins.

Early Origins of the Chaves family

The surname Chaves was first found in northern Portugal where the oldest member of this family is Lourenco Pires de Chaves, perhaps a contemporary of D. Afonso III or his son. 1 Alvaro Lopes de Chaves was a knight of the Order of Santiago, and held the office of secretary to King Alfonso V in the 15th century. He was awarded arms for his service in 1476.

Early History of the Chaves family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Chaves research. Another 148 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1476, 1614 and 1632 are included under the topic Early Chaves History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Chaves Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Chávez, Chaves, Chavez and others.

Early Notables of the Chaves family

Prominent members of the family include

Gomez de Chaves, born in Lima, Peru in 1614, the grandson of Gomez de Chaves of Ciudad Rodrigo (Salamanca)...

Chaves Ranking

In the United States, the name Chaves is the 4,582^nd most popular surname with an estimated 7,461 people with that name. 2

Chaves migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Chaves Settlers in United States in the 16th Century

Andrés de Chaves, who arrived in America in 1512
Diego de Chaves, who arrived in America in 1526
Juan Chaves, who served with Pedro de Alvarado and who founded the settlement of Gracias a Dios in 1533
Gómez de Chaves, who arrived in Cartagena in 1534
Juan de Chaves, who arrived in Spanish Main in 1534
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Chaves Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Andres De Chaves, who landed in America in 1812 3
Hemando De Chaves, who arrived in America in 1815 3
Nicolasa DeJesus Chaves, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1816 3
Gonzalo De Chaves, who landed in America in 1817 3
Juan De Chaves, who landed in America in 1817 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Chaves Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Ana Chaves, who arrived in Texas in 1923

Chaves 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. 4

Chaves Settlers in West Indies in the 16th Century

Bernardo de Chaves, who arrived in the Dominican Republic in 1534

Chaves Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Bernardo De Chaves, who landed in Dominican Republic in 1834 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Chaves (post 1700) +

Richard John Chaves (b. 1951), American actor
José Francisco Chaves (1833-1904), nineteenth century American politician, lawyer and farmer
Zachary A. Chaves, American politician, Candidate for Connecticut State Senate 36th District, 2008 5
Jose Francisco Chaves (1833-1904), American Republican politician, Delegate to U.S. Congress from New Mexico Territory, 1865-67, 1869-71; Member New Mexico territorial council, 1875 5
E. V. Chaves, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New Mexico Territory, 1892, 1904 5
Amado Chaves Jr., American politician, U.S. Vice Consul in La Guaira, 1924 5
Raúl Pires Ferreira Chaves (1889-1967), Portuguese civil engineer and inventor
António Martins de Chaves (d. 1447), Portuguese Cardinal of the Catholic Church
Jorge Ferreira Chaves (1920-1982), Portuguese architect
Soraia Chaves (b. 1982), Portuguese actress and model
... (Another 15 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

De Faria, Antonio Machado. Armorial lusitano: genealogia e heráldica. Lisboa, 1961. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, December 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html