Family name origins & meanings
- Galician : habitational name from any of the places in Galicia named Varela, from a diminutive of vara ‘rod’, ‘stick’.
- Greek (Varelas) : from Greek varela ‘barrel’, from Italian barella ‘barrel’. Accented on the final syllable, varelás is a metonymic occupational name for a cooper; with the accent on the middle syllable, varélas is a nickname for a large fat man.