Last name origin questions- Medina?

Question

1. Country of origin
2. What you associate with it
3. Other people who have this name (famous)
4. Cultural associations

Answer 1

Medina
Spanish: habitational name from any of the several places, as for example Medina-Sidonia in Cádiz province and Medina del Campo in Valladolid, so called from Arabic medina ‘city’. The surname is also borne by Sephardic Jews.
Sorry that's all I could find.

Answer 2

Medina Name Meaning

Answer 3

Medina Last Name

Answer 4

RE:
Last name origin questions- Medina?
1. Country of origin
2. What you associate with it
3. Other people who have this name (famous)
4. Cultural associations

Answer 5

I'm going to guess Spain on the country of origin because I see it in a lot of Puerto Rican and Dominican families. I associate it with my mother-in-law because that's her last name. I don't know of anyone famous with it but I remember a song from the 80's called "Funky Cold Medina"

Answer 6

I will say Italy, as in the Medina family that instituted double-entry bookkeeping, they were wealthy merchants. But see:

Medina Surname Origin
(Spanish) habitational (locality) name from any of the several places, as for example Medina-Sidonia in Cádiz province and Medina del Campo in Valladolid, so called from Arabic medina ‘city’. The surname is also borne by Sephardic Jews.
from: http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnames/origin/m/medina.php
Definition: 1) Dweller at or near the market; one who had returned from the market 2) From the city of Medina in western Saudi Arabia, the second most holy city of Islam. According to the Instituto Genealógico e Histórico Latino-Americano, the Medina surname originated principally in the Spanish areas of Burgos and Andalusia.

Surname Origin: Spanish, Portuguese

Alternate Surname Spellings: MEDENA
From: http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/m/bl_name-MEDINA.htm

The word Medina which means “city” in Arabic (Arabic: المدينة; alternatively transliterated into English as Madinah), so the origin of word Medina may be Muslim; but it is not proved.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medina_del_Campo

Answer 7

When Spain went out to colonize the Western hemisphere, they sent soldiers and missionaries together. The monarchy was hellbent on creating the largest kingdom devoted to the Roman Catholic Church as was possible. To that end, they not only forcibly took over lands, they also imposed their culture on the new colonies. Step #1 was to baptize everyone and give them Spanish identities.

The possession of a Spanish surname does not mean your ancestors ever stepped foot in Spain. But it does mean when your earliest ancestor on your father's side was baptized, a priest gave him a set of Christian names. Every good Spaniard had his first name, his patron saint's name, his mother's surname (apellido) and his father's surname. If those names didn't exist yet, the priest assigned the apellidos. From there the names were passed from parent to child. The Church was the official keeper of records and everyone was tracked by their names and their parents' names.

As for famous people named Medina, I remember a former president of Puerto Rico named Francisco Medina and a poet from Mexico named Manuel Medina. From there, I'm stuck for more famous folks from the Latin world with that name.

Answer 8

1.It originates with the Arabs, as most of the cities with this name are either named for the one famous in Islam or named for one named for it. The word origin is older, but why quibble about it, the Arabs are the one that spread the name to Spain.
2. Its the second most important city in Islam. It's a large county in Ohio.
3. I don't know any off hand
4. Mostly to do with Islam or the Moors in Spain