Fonda Family History
Fonda Surname Meaning
Dutch (of West Frisian origin): apparently an altered form of Funda which may well be a reinterpretation due to similarity to Latin fundus ‘depth’ of Foyngha, the name of an estate managed by the ancestors of the first and only bearer of this surname in the Netherlands who later established its variant in America. There is no evidence for the supposed Spanish origin of this surname.
Italian (Trieste) and Slovenian: nickname from Italian fonda, an old variant of fionda ‘sling catapult’ or from an Italian homonym meaning ‘bag’. This form of the surname was first recorded in 1230 in Slovene Littoral.
Italian: possibly also a habitational name from a place called with the adjective fondo fonda ‘deep’, for example Cavafonda ‘deep cave’ or Vallefonda ‘deep valley’.
Americanized form of German Funda, itself at least in part probably of Czech or Polish origin, in Czech being a nickname derived from funět ‘to pant, to gasp’.
In some cases probably also southwestern French: topographic name or metonymic occupational name from Spanish or Catalan fonda ‘inn’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022