Where the Munoz name comes from

Munoz is a Spanish-language surname built on the Basque word muinoa, meaning hill. Portuguese carries the same name in the form Munhoz. The surname spread during the Reconquista, when settlers from Navarre and Alava moved south in large numbers. Those settlements planted Munoz across New Castile and Andalusia.

English took the name in directly from Spanish. The 2010 United States census counted 158,483 people carrying it, ranking Munoz 168th among surnames in the country.