Vilar Family History

Catalan, Galician and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places called Vilar, which are named from vilar ‘village’ or ‘(outlying) farmstead’, a derivative of vila ‘(outlying) farmstead’, ‘(dependent) settlement’; or topographic name for someone who lived in a vilar. Slovenian (central Slovenia): from an agent noun derived from vile ‘hayfork’, ‘dungfork’, either a nickname or perhaps an occupational name for a fork maker. It may also be a variant spelling of the surname Vilhar, a medieval derivative of the German personal name Wilhelm.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press