Mendoza Family History
Mendoza Name Meaning
Basque: habitational name from any of several places in the provinces of Araba/Álava and Biscay in the Basque Country (Spain) called Mendoza named with Basque mendi ‘mountain’ + otz ‘cold’ + the definite article -a. Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the Iberian surname (see 1 above) at the moment of conversion to Roman Catholicism. After the return to Judaism (generations later) some descendants retained the name their families used as Catholics.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022