Nunes Family History

Portuguese and Galician: patronymic from the personal name Nuno. Jewish (Sephardic): Portuguese surname (see 1 above) adopted 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.

English: variant of Newnes, a habitational name from Newnes in Ellesmere, Shropshire. The etymology of the placename is uncertain; it may derive from Old English nīwe ‘new’ + næss ‘promontory headland’, but the sense of ‘new headland’ is not clear and such a name does not suit the place's topography.