A Spanish surname of Mendoza originally came from the Basque region of Spain. The ’mendi’ means mountain and ’hotza’ means cold. The Mendoza surname is not that common in Spain. Centuries earlier many Mendoza families moved to the northern region of Italy, especially around Venice. In the 17th and 18th centuries, additional Mendoza families moved to numerous New World Spanish colonies and the number of individuals in the Latin American countries today has increased tremendously.

Spelling in Portuguese is Mendonca and others form in Spanish are Mendosa, Mendozza, Mendolaro and Mendolia. Some Italian spellings are Amendola, Amendoles and Lammendola.

The Mendoza surname is in Argentina, Panama, Philippines, Honduras, Columbia and Peru.

Only the London area of England has any sizable number of individuals with the Mendoza surname. California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico within the United States have many families with the Mendoza surname.

Famous: Cristobal Mendoza (early 19th century president of Venezuela), Pedro de Mendoza (16th century Spanish conquistador in Argentina), Thristan Mendoza (musician from the Philippines), Roger Lee Mendoza (economist), Eduardo Mendoza (novelist of Spain), Daniel Mendoza (18th century British champion boxer), Amalia Mendoza (singer), Carlos Mendoza (professional baseball player).