Urquía is a surname which originated in the municipalities of Isasondo and Arautz (now

Oñati Oñati ( eu, Oñati, es, Oñate) is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It has a population of approximately 10,500 and lies in a valley in the center of the Basqu ...

), in the province of

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, located in the

Spanish Basque country The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...

. The villages of Urki Errota, and Urkigoena Urkigoena Azpi are in these districts.

Surname meaning

''Urquía'' signifies

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

or "Place of the birches", which breaks down as follows: ''Urki'' refers to the birch tree, the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

''a'' denotes a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

. Birches were historically planted to mark territorial boundaries in the rural Basque country. There are several variations, such as Urkia, Urquía, Urquilla, Urquiza, Urquijo, Urquiaga, Urkullo, and Urquiola.

History

Urquía, as a surname, is recorded in writing in 1625 in Spain but was in use many years before. On October 30, 1340, the military arm of the Urquía family, under orders from His Majesty King

Alfonso XI of Castile Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...

, took part in the "

Battle of Río Salado The Battle of Río Salado also known as the Battle of Tarifa (30 October 1340) was a battle of the armies of King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile against those of Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of the Marinid dynasty and Yusuf I ...

" winning a victory against the Moors near the Tafira coast. King Alfonso XI of Castile knighted Los Urquía following the Battle. A branch of the family then came to Castellón by virtue of the Castilian origin of Valderrodilla,

Soria Province Soria is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. Most of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. Demographics It is bordered by the provinces of La Rioja, Zaragoza, G ...

and settled in

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m abov ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and Jaén. There is a connection to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, particularly

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...

where they founded the Urquía home.

Coat of arms

Armorial bearings A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its wh ...

consist Urquía house: The first: In a foil cross

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

(red), a band of gold (symbol of knighthood and cross from the right shoulder) pompous in dredger (2 dragons)

Vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme vers ...

(green, is a symbol of strength) and accompanied on top of a silver arm with a silver dagger and a gold lining. The second, is a red field with two golden

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

heads dripping blood. Gold, Vert, a hazel, golden fruit, with a greyhound

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

at the foot of the stem.

Bordure In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself. It is sometimes reckoned as an ordinary and sometimes as a subordinary. A bordure encl ...

gules of eight scallops argent.

Distribution of the Surname

As with many Basque surnames, the surname spread with Spanish migration throughout the former Spanish territories in the Americas. The name today is found throughout Latin America, notably in Honduras. In Asia the name is also found in Guam and in the Philippines, where Urquia's are known to be a mix of Filipinos, Honduran, Puerto Rican, Italian and other origins.

References

*Apellidos en Canarias. Por Carlos Platero Fernández. *Diccionario Heráldico de la Nobleza Guipuzcoana. Por Juan Carlos de Guerra. 1882–88. *Diccionario Heráldico y Nobiliario de los Reinos de España. Por Fernando Gonzales Doria. *Enciclopedia Hispanoamericana de la Heráldica, Genealogía y Onomástica. Por Arturo y Alberto García Carraffa. Continuado por: Endikado Mogrodejo. *http://www.heraldicapellido.com/u2/Urquia.htm *http://www.miparentela.com/mapas/detalles/urquia.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Urquia Basque-language surnames