Padilla Family History

Spanish: habitational name from any of various minor places for example in the provinces of Burgos, Guadalajara, and Valladolid named from Spanish padilla ‘frying pan, breadpan’ (from Latin patella, a diminutive of patina ‘shallow dish’), a word that was commonly used in the topographic sense of a shallow gentle depression.

In the US, this surname is also found among Native Americans (mainly Pueblos).