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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Spanish and Italian : from barca ‘boat’, ‘small boat’ (Latin barca), hence a metonymic occupational name for a sailor, a shipbuilder, or the owner of a boat.
  • Spanish and Portuguese : habitational name from any of various places named with this word, which is probably of pre-Roman origin.
  • Hungarian : habitational name from a place called Barca in Borsod county. In some cases the family name could be a derivative of the personal name Bertalan, Hungarian form of Bartholomew.
  • Romanian : from barca ‘curly fleeced sheep’, hence probably a metonymic occupational name for a shepherd, or a nickname for someone with curly hair.

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