Ochoa


Ochoa is a Spanish surname of Basque origin common throughout Spain, France, the Americas, and the Philippines. It is a surname of patronymic origin; it was originally a given name in Medieval Spain.
The name originated in the Basque Country and means "the wolf", from the Basque vocabulary word otso/otxo meaning "wolf". In Standard Basque, the name is spelled otsoa or otxoa. There was also a female given name Ochanda and Ochotorena or Otxotorena, meaning "son of Ochoto". The Spanish equivalent of this Basque given name was Lope, also appearing in the names of Gascon lords in the High Middle Ages.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 32.2% of all known bearers of the surname Ochoa were residents of Mexico, 12.1% of Colombia, 11.8% of the United States, 9.4% of Venezuela, 5.8% of Peru, 5.1% of Guatemala, 4.8% of Argentina, 4.8% of Ecuador, 3.1% of Honduras, 2.5% of Spain, 1.6% of Nicaragua, 1.4% of Cuba, 1.4% of Bolivia and 1.3% of El Salvador.
In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following autonomous communities:
In Honduras, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following departments: