Urquía is a surname which originated in the municipalities of

Itsasondo Itsasondo is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern an ...

and

Zarautz Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

which is now

Oñati Oñati (, ) 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 Basque country. It lies abo ...

. It is located in the province of

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) 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 department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...

, within the

Spanish Basque country The Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community (), also officially called Euskadi (), is an autonomous community in northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa. It surrounds two enclaves called Treviño ...

. The villages of Urki Errota, and 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 3 ...

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 and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''a'' denotes a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

. 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 (11 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 ...

, 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 between the armies of King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile against those of Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of the Marinids and Yusuf ...

" 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 ...

and settled in

Ávila Ávila ( , , ) is a Spanish city 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 a ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and Jaén. There is a connection to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, particularly

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achie ...

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). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

(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 versio ...

(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 Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

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