Acuna

This is one of the earliest Spanish surnames recorded in the New World, and specifically Mexico. The meaning is obscure but it is probably connected with the Latin 'vicuna', originally used to describe wool, but later a special type of wool. If this is so then the surname is job descriptive either for a person who made garments from wool, or possibly a sheep farmer or shepherd. Interestingly the surname is also recorded as De Acuna, the preposition suggesting that the nameholder held considerable lands, which may have even included a village called 'Acuna', although we do not have any record of such a place in Spain. Many Spanish surnames have a Roman (Latin) ancestry, the Iberian Peninsula being part of the Roman Empire from the year 100 a.d. to about 410 a.d., although hereditary surnames were quite late in their formation. Early examples of the surname recordings include such examples as Francisco De Acuna of San Miguel, Arcangle, Mexico, on January 10th 1715, whilst somewhat later Susanna Acuna married Ygnacio Amavista at San Berdino, California, on October 20th 1878.The coat of arms associated with the name has the blazon of a gold shield, charged a black bend, and overall an escutcheon in silver, charged with a green cross flory. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ribera Acuna, which was dated September 4th 1661, at the city of Asuncion, Mexico, during the reign of King Phillip 1V of Spain and Emperor of Mexico, 1621 - 1665. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.