Casa

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La Casa De (The House of) Acevedo
The Casa de Acevedo is a very old and distinguished family of both Spain and Portugal. This family originated from a French Knight named "Arnaldo de Bazon",who came to Spain from Gascony in the year 980 AD to crusade against the Moors.

He settled in Galicia in the lands of Orense near the frontiers of Portugal during the reign of King Alfonso VI of Leon. His grandson, Egas Gosindo de Bazon married Doña Ebescua Viegas in the county of Portugal, near Lisbon in the town of "Acevedo" (from the word "Acebo" meaning “Holly Tree").

They had a son who founded a house in a place called Acevedo (Portugal), taking the name as the last name. Don Egas de Bazon had two sons, Henan de Acevedo and Men Perez de Acevedo who was the patriarch of the Portuguese Casa de Azevedo. Hernan de Acevedo went to Spain in the service of King Alfonso VI of Castille and assisted in the capture of Toledo.

The Portuguese branch of the family came to Spain later when Don Diego de Acevedo Fonseca y Ulloa married Doña Francisca de Zuñiga, the II Countess of Monterey and subsequently became related to many other Noble Houses of Spain. Knights of the House of Acevedo participated in the capture of Baeza and Ubeda from the Moors and are recorded in the various Knightly Orders of Spain.

The Acevedo family came from the town of "Barca de Avila", in the province of Avila, in Castillo de Vieja where it is known that the relations and ancestors of the family derive from.

From the descendants of Don Diego de Acevedo Fonseca y Ulloa and of the branch from the town of "Barca de Avila", through a Royal Patent of Nobility, descended Don Jacinto de Acevedo. His son, Don Manuel Jacintode Acevedo y Galon, went to Puerto Rico as the Ministerio de Hacienda Real during the 1780's. After Puerto Rico, Don ManuelJacinto de Acevedo y Galan was assigned to the city of San Luis de Potosi, Mexico as Corregidor and Intedente.

There are two coat of arms for the Acevedo Family:
The Acevedo family from Castille, with its alliance with the house of Ayala, adopted a Squared shield, quadrant 1 and 4 in gold, a Holly tree and quadrants 2 and 3 in silver, a white wolf.
The border in red with eight (8) Xs in gold. The other Acevedo family adopted a shield with a Holly tree on gold with a white greyhound tied to the Holly tree trunk.

Of the first Europeans to set foot in the New World was an Acevedo!

Columbus' Crew

From The Discovery Of America by John Fiske published in 1892.

List of Officers and Sailors in the First Voyage of Columbus in 1492

SANTA MARIA

Those who went out in the Santa Maria, and returned in the Nina:--

Christopher Columbus, captain-general

Juan de La Cosa, of Santona, master, and owner of the vessel.

Sancho Ruiz, pilot.

Maestre Alonso, of Moguer, physician.

Maestre Diego, boatswain (contramaestre).

Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia, inspector (veedor).

Terreros, steward (maestresala)

Rodrigo de Jerez, of Ayamonte.

Ruiz Garcia, of Santona.

Rodrigo de Escobar.

Francisco de Huelva, of Huelva.

Rui Fernandez, of Huelva.

Pedro de Bilbao, of Larrabezua.

Pedro de Villa, of Santona.

Diego de Salcedo, servant of Columbus.

Pedro de Acevedo, cabin boy.

Luis de Torres, converted Jew, interperter.

Origin of the name ACEVEDO/AZEVEDO
El Acebo means the Holly.

The AZEVEDO Name.

The word ACEBO was pronounced by the Arabs as ZEBEG. The Romans called it ACER, that in Latin means: strong, and sharp.

In old England it was known as HOLIN. With the evolution of the language, it became HOLEN, and later, HOLLY.

The Galicians (Gallegos) call the Holly Tree ACEBO and the Woods as ACEBEDO.
The Portuguese know HOLLY as AZEVINO and woods of hollies as: azevedo.

So you could translate the name to HOLLYWOOD!

The name ACEVEDO (Spain) or AZEVEDO (Portugal) comes primarily from Pontevedra, Galicia, in the Northwest of Spain and Portugal. The name is also written as ACEBEDO, ACEBEDA, AZEVEDO, ACEBEDO, ACEVEDO.

SZALA (Polish)

Unfortunately, this is one of those names that could have come and probably did) from several different roots. Polish surname expert Kazimierz Rymut lists it under the entry Szal- and says such names can derive from the word szala, "scale" (as in a scale to weigh something), or from szal, "shawl," or from szalec~, a verb meaning "to rage."
We also can't rule out the possibility it derived from a short form or nickname of Salomon (Solomon) -- due to dialect pronunciation peculiarities, s and sz often switch.

As of 1990 there were 2,124 Poles named Szala, and 330 named Szal~a using l~ to stand for the Polish slashed l, which sounds like our w). The Szala's lived all over Poland, with the largest numbers in the provinces of Bydgoszcz (127), Kalisz (101), Katowice (418), Rzeszow (110), and Zamosc (176). If there's a pattern there, I'm afraid I can't see it.

The Szal~a's were by far most common in the province of Poznan (236).

No matter how you add it up, I'm afraid there just isn't a clear picture.
The name could have come from several different roots, and there's no pattern to it.

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