A Spanish and Portuguese surname, Chavez, is a varied spelling of the surname Chaves.
Most of the original Chavez families came from the northwestern region of Spain.

Spelling variation for Chavez is Chaves.

Within the United States most with the Chavez surname live in New Mexico, California, Arizona Colorado and Texas.

In Latin American counties especially in Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Paraguay and Nicaragua have a large population of Chavez families.

Famous: Julio Cesar Chavez (professional boxer from Mexico), Cesar Chavez (farm labor leader in California), Coronado Chavez (19th century president of Honduras), Jose Chavez y Chavez (19th century frontier cowboy in New Mexico), Raul Chavez (professional baseball player of Venezuela), Hugo Chavez (president of Venezuela) and Carlos Chavez (music composer).