Family name origins & meanings
- Spanish (Ponce de León) : compound name composed of the family name Ponce + the habitational name León (see Leon).
- Juan Ponce De León, the Spanish explorer who discovered Florida, came from a noble Aragonese family. He is believed to have been on board for Columbus’s second voyage to Hispaniola in 1493. After his death in Florida from a wound from an Indian arrow in 1521, Ponce De León’s title and rights in Florida were passed on to his son.