Cruz

Cruz is a surname of Iberian origin, first found in Castile, Spain, but later spread throughout the territories of the former Spanish and Portuguese Empires. In Spanish and Portuguese, the word means “cross,” either the Christian cross or the figure of transecting lines or ways. For example, in the Philippines, the adopted Tagalog word is rendered to “krus” in plain usage, but the Spanish spelling survives as a surname.

The word "Cruz", as well as "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross") and "Santa Cruz" ("Holy Cross") are used as surnames and topological names. Its origin as a surname particularly flourished after the Alhambra Decree of 1492 and the increasing activities of the Spanish Inquisition, when New Christian families with Crypto-Jewish, Moorish, and/or mixed religious heritage converted to the state-enforced religion of Catholicism and subsequently fashioned and adopted surnames with unambiguous religious affiliation.

People with the surname

Cruz (disambiguation)

Real and fictional characters with Cruz as a first or last name. Cruz is a surname of Iberian origin.

Cruz or La Cruz may also refer to:

Places

Brazil:

Chile:

Costa Rica:

Mexico:

Peru:

Portugal:

Cruz, Ceará

Cruz is a city in Ceará, state of Brazil. The city lies on the Acaraú River near the northern Atlantic coast. As of 2010 the population was estimated at 22,479.

References