NUNEZ (with egne) is a Castilian surname, is a patronimic one, and means Son of Nuno (with egne too), so have multiple origins.

In the Past there were not surnames as we know today, each person has his christian name, and then the patronimic, Ex. a man has the name Iban Lopez, his son is Nuno Ibanez, the son of Nuno is Lope Nunez, the son of Lope is Pero Lopez, the son of Pero is Enrique Perez etc etc......if they were Nobles the use also the name of the place they own Ex. They are the lords of Balboa, so the first is Iban Lopez de Balboa, his son Nuno Ibanez de Balboa, the next Lope Nunez de Balboa etc etc...

But after the Trento Council in 1570, the Church say that the sons must have the same surname than their fathers, so Nunez was converted from a patronimic in a surname.

That means that one of your ancestors was named Nuno.

The discoverer of the Pacific was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, he was born in 1475 in Jerez de los Caballeros (in Extremadura) his father was Nuno Arias de Balboa, and the family was original of Galiza. Vasco was a christian name, today is not used in spanish, but is used in Portugal.

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soundofthunda at hotmail dot com 06-Oct-2011 0:01 #12500 Nunes is a name descended from the Roman House of Nonius in Spain and Portugal. Cicero wrote that the Nonius family got their name because they were the 9th tribe captured during the early expansion of Rome. It is the gens name of a Celtic family from Verona found in Roman records from the 1st century BC into the family of Roman magistrates in Spain 50-100 miles from Lara. In Roman senatorial records they are related to the Paterna and native Iberian family Monius / Munius. The Byzantine version of the Nonius name is Nonnosus and that family was a Roman family living in Spain. Nomus Nonius was consul with Valentian III, whose family married the Vandal and Visigoth families then ruling Spain and North Africa. the Nonii are in-laws to the Lupus family who lived (by the Dark Ages) in Perigord. They were also related in antiquity to a Roman senatorial Lusitanian family of the gens Fortunius. The personal name was Nonio, the patrinomical was Nonius.
cbrand at telfort dot nl 12-Nov-2010 10:12 #11691 My family is also called Nunes d'Agrella and this name they carry for more then 3 hundred years the full name. My family comes from Madeira and they immigrated to Suriname a former Dutch Colony. The name is as far as I know not Jewish, but there are also Jews called Nunes as a familyname! Nunes means son of Nuno!
anunez1 at msn dot com 17-Oct-2010 13:22 #11610 Joshua , is the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua. According to the books Exodus, Numbers and Joshua, he became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses; his name was Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him Joshua, the name by which he is commonly known; and he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus, and was probably the same age as Caleb, with whom he is occasionally associated. He was one of the twelve spies of Israel sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. After the death of Moses, he led the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan, and allocated the land to the tribes. According to conventional Bible chronology, Joshua lived between 1450–1370 BC, or sometime in the late Bronze Age. According to, Joshua died at the age of 110. Joshua also holds a position of respect to Muslims; the Shi'ah believe he was an Imam. Despite not being canonized, he is considered by some to be the patron saint of spies and intelligence professionals. NUNEZ = SON OF NUN
robertdeannunez at roadrunner dot com 05-Sep-2010 22:12 #11452 My last name is Nunez, and that side of my family down the paternal line were Sephardic Jews. My great grandfather was a Sephardic Jew who settled in New Mexico in the 19th century. But the Judaism ended with him & my family is mostly Catholic now. I myself was raised Catholic (although I am now agnostic). I've heard different answers regarding the origin of the name Nunez. Mostly, I've heard it to be simply Spanish for the Hebrew Ben-Nun, or Son of Nun, a name that dates back to The Torah. Moses' apprentice, Joshua was named ben Nun. Given my Sephardic ancestry down the Nunez line, this is the answer I've come to accept as most likely. But I can't tell if this necessarily applies to all Nunez families.
angeva 02-Jun-2010 2:01 #11179 I am trying to trace back my family to Spain... which is actually just my great grandfather, Caesar Nunez.Came to Venezuela in the 1920's i believe
dagrella4 at yahoo dot com 24-Apr-2010 19:59 #11062 Hello my last name is Nunes d'Agrella and my family appears to come from Portugal. I am trying to find out the meaning of the names Nunes (also Nunez) and d'Agrella (could also be D'Agrella or Dagrella). My aunt before she died told me that we are to always carry the name Nunes as part of our last name and from what she understand the name Nunes maybe Jewish and they had to convert to Catholic in order to stay alive. When I visited Portugal our taxi driver told me that the name d'Agrella is the Patron saint of distress in Portugal in the Catholic Church. If it is true at least half of my last name d'Agrella indicates a Catholic connection and maybe what my aunt said may have some plausibility. I did find the name d'Agrella in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. I found the name Nunes in Spain and Portugal. Any help from anyone in understanding my name, and my heritage?
nunez at noyaspamhoo dot com 28-Mar-2010 19:07 #10959 Hello, my last name is Nunez. I understand it to be a Sephardic Jewish name. Sephardic is the old word for Spanish. These families arrived in the Iberian peninsula over 2000 years ago and developed a culture there. In fact, Sephardic jews would use the hebrew alphabet to write what became their native language Espanyol. Later they were kicked out of Spain and Portugal or killed or converted to Christianity to stay alive. Now days you can still find Nunez/Nunes/Núñez families who still practice the jewish faith.
mcosta521 at comcast dot net 09-Oct-2008 16:48 #8457 Hi there, my name is Nuno Miguel. I was reading the below post and found it extremely interesting. Does anyone have any additional information they can add? I am Portuguese, but was born in Mozambique back in the days when it was a Portuguese colony. I was raised in Canada and have always wondered where the name Nuno came from because as Nuno mentioned below, it does not sound like most Christian names. I only know of two origins which use this name Portugal and Italy, but even so it is not a common or frequently used name. I've never heard or met someone of Spanish descent with this name, although Nuno's research points him to that area. In Portuguese it is pronounce Nunu and in Italian Nuno. If any one has any further information on the name's history that would be great. <\Hi. My name is Nuno and I'm from Oporto (northern Portugal) and i've always wanted to know where my name came from, since it exists only in Portuguese speaking parts of the world and it differs a lot from other christian names. So i took some time to do a research and this is what i found: It is not a christian name. Nuno is a very old name which appeared in the old kingdom of Gallecia (Today it's divided into Galicia and northern Portugal. It's origin is in the roman legions stationed in that region and it means "The 9th". But no one knows exactly what "the 9th" is... \>
princessdee1312 at yahoo dot com 01-Aug-2008 13:28 #8034 my last name is Nuno as well. I heard it was from spain or portugal but my family really doesnt know.
cnuno1987 at yahoo dot com 30-Oct-2007 23:37 #6315 Well my last name is Nuno. I am Mexican, so I presume my last name is of Spanish descent. I find it very interesting that it is also of Portuguese descent.
Bettyboop8196 at aol dot com 11-Feb-2007 20:29 #4572 In 1999 I had gone to Colombia, SA and asked my Grandmother about my decendents she said that they originated from Spain and were brought to Colombia, she was from La Doctrina near Lorica Cordoba, I am interested in finding out our heritage line and history. My Grandmothers Name was Petrona Nunez Negrete and Grandfather was Ricardo Ortega Barrios, my grandmothers Parents were Mare del Rosario Perez and Andres Nunez
kdn1984 at aol dot com 03-Apr-2005 3:17 #1381 I forgot-Cicero wrote that the Nonius family got their name because the were the 9th tribe captured during the early expansion of Rome.
kdn1984 at aol dot com 03-Apr-2005 3:14 #1380 The name Nuno is from latin Nonio. the greek U replacing the Latin O in Spanish late Latin to represent the same sound. It is the gens name of a Celtic family from Verona found in Roman records from the 1st century BC into the family of Roman magistrates in Spain 50-100 miles from Lara. In Roman senatorial records they are related to the Paterna and native Iberian family Monius / Munius. The Byzantine version of the Nonius name is Nonnosus and that family was a Roman family living in Spain. Nomus Nonius was consul with Valentian III, whose family married the Vandal and Visigoth families then ruling Spain and North Africa. the Nonii are in-laws to the Lupus family who lived (by the Dark Ages) in Perigord. They were also related in antiquity to a Roman senatorial Lusitanian family of the gens Fortunius. The personal name was Nonio, the patrinomical was Nonius. By the 3rd century there is evidence from lawsuits that the name was being passed down matriarchally.
nospam at yahoo dot com 14-May-2004 18:39 #474 Hi. My name is Nuno and I'm from Oporto (northern Portugal) and i've always wanted to know where my name came from, since it exists only in Portuguese speaking parts of the world and it differs a lot from other christian names. So i took some time to do a research and this is what i found: It is not a christian name. Nuno is a very old name which appeared in the old kingdom of Gallecia (Today it's divided into Galicia and northern Portugal. It's origin is in the roman legions stationed in that region and it means "The 9th". But no one knows exactly what "the 9th" is...
rayu at comcast dot net 25-Jan-2004 20:41 #280 Nice site,very intresting
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