Gallego History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Italy
Spain

Noble surnames, such as Gallego, evoke images of the ancient homeland of the Spanish people. The original bearer of the name Gallego, which is a local surname, once lived, held land, or was born in the beautiful region of Spain. In Spain, hereditary surnames were adopted according to fairly general rules and during the late Middle Ages, names that were derived from localities became increasingly widespread. Local names originally denoted the proprietorship of the village or estate. Gallego is a habitation name, which is a type of local surname that is derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came.

Early Origins of the Gallego family

The surname Gallego was first found in Galicia, in the northwestern region of the Iberian peninsula.

Early History of the Gallego family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gallego research. Another 86 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1274, 1440, 1507, 1563, 1617, 1618 and 1619 are included under the topic Early Gallego History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gallego Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Gallego, Gallegos and others.

Early Notables of the Gallego family

Prominent among members of the family

Fernando Gallego (c.1440-1507), a Spanish painter, his art is generally regarded as Hispano-Flemish in style, who decorated many churches in the regions of Leon and Extremadura
Fernando Talaverano Gallegos, also known as Hernando Talaverano (1563-1619), Spanish lawyer and administrator, Royal Governor of Chile (1617-1618)

Gallego Ranking

In the United States, the name Gallego is the 7,537^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1 However, in France, the name Gallego is ranked the 2,208^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,891 people with that name. 2

Gallego migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Gallego Settlers in United States in the 16th Century

Cristóbal Gallego, who sailed to America in 1510
Diego Gallego went to America in 1512
Alonso Gallego, who sailed to America in 1512
Miguel Gallego to America in 1514
Lorenzo Gallego to Hispaniola in 1537
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Gallego Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Silvestre Gallego, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1803 3
Cristobal Gallego, who landed in America in 1810 3
Diego Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
Francisco Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
Juan Gallego, who arrived in America in 1812 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Gallego 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

Gallego Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Lorenzo Gallego, who arrived in Dominican Republic in 1837 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Gallego (post 1700) +

Mike Gallego, American professional baseball player
Ricardo Gallego, Spanish footballer
Américo Gallego, Argentine footballer
Justo Gallego Martínez (1925-2021), also known as Don Justo, a Spanish farmer and monk who built a cathedral on his own in the town of Mejorada del Campo

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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