Campos Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History

Surname Meaning, Origin, and Etymology
Campos is a surname from Europe, specifically from the region known as Castile in Spain, but its origins can also be found in other countries such as England, France, and Portugal. The reason behind this is that it can be traced deeper into the past until the Roman Empire, which used to hold all of those territories. There are two possible origins for this surname, however, both theories expose a local surname. Campos can be translated as “field” or “countryside” so it was probable that its bearers were people who moved to a town or a city from the country and their new neighbors started to use this word to identify the newcomers. This can be also the case of someone who moved from one town called “Campos” to a new town and the people from the new town used that name to call him, as a matter of fact, there is a town named “Campes” in England.

The other possible origin comes from the etymological origin of Campos, which come from the Roman word “campus” that was used to refer a fortification. During the times of the Roman Empire, there were many of these places across Europe, so the surname could start as a way to call a person who lived in a Roman fortification, someone like a soldier. The first record of a person who used this surname talks about Alonso Campos who in 1238 served as a knight under the orders of King Jaime I of Aragon.

Spelling Variations
During the middle age in Europe, there were many reasons that caused spelling variations for a single surname, there were wrong translations and writing of many words, some families added suffixes or prefixes to the surname to show their loyalty or to be distinguished from other lines of the same last name and the mix of cultures across the continent. Campos is a surname that has its portion of spelling variations such as Campo, de Campos, de Campo, del Campo, Camps, Campillo, del Campillo, Ocampo, de Ocampo, Campa, Campes and many others.

Popularity & Geographic Distribution
According to the census of 2014, Campos holds the 335^th position in the rank of the most popular surnames in the world and it is used by approximately 1,455,957 people. It is most prevalent in Brazil and its highest density is in Costa Rica. The country with the second biggest amount of bearers of Campos is Mexico, and the third one is Peru.

Early Bearers of the Surname
There are good records that allow us to know the names of some of the old bearers of this surname such as Felicia de Campo, who appeared in the Hundreds of Rolls of Cambridge, England in 1273, Martin del Campo on July 4, 1547, in Asuncion, Mexico, Barbosa Campo on April 26, 1671, also in Asuncion, Mexico, Sebastian de Ocampo a Spanish navigator who discover the Gulf of Mexico and circumnavigated Cuba in 1508, and Manuel and Juan Campos de Orellana who were part of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1772.

History, Genealogy, and Ancestry
As it said before Campos is a local surname, which means it was given according to the place of origin of the user. This has the consequence that not all of its bearers are related, so there are many lines from different families of this surname. A well-recorded line of Campos is the one of Francisco Javier de Campos who was from San Fernando de Catamarca, Argentina. Francisco moved to Chile and there, he served as a ruler of La Serena in 1573 and occupied other charges in the government. He got married to Nicolasa de Bari Pizzaro y González-Campo who was from Sotaquí, Chile, and daughter of José Pizarro y Cortés and Juana González Campo y Navarro.

They had eight children: María Mercedes Campos y Pizarro who was born in 1766 and got married to Gervacio de las Cuevas y Collarte, Nicolasa de Campo y Pizarro, who was born in 1753 and got married to Andrés Abelino Larrondo, María de la Cruz de Campo y Pizarro who got married to Bernardo Antonio Palacios de Rivas, Manuela Campos Pizarro who got married to Mariano Godoy y Varas, Felisa Campos Pizarro who got married to Luis de la Fert Gerardo, José Gabriel de Campos y Pizarro who got married to María Pinochet y Díaz Gallardo, Pedro José Campos Pizarro who got married three times, the first time to Rosa Perez de Valenzuela Ramírez, the second to Antonia Moreno and the third time to María del Transito Valenzuela.

The children of this las union were Juana María de Campo y Valenzuela, José Ciriaco de Campo y Valenzuela, María Antonia de Campo y Valenzuela, José Manuel del Campo y Valenzuela, José León de Campo y Valenzuela, Félix Venancio de Campo y Valenzuela, María Josefa del Campo y Valenzuela, Antonia de Campo y Valenzuela, Ignacia de Campo y Valenzuela, Rosario de Campo y Valenzuela, María Josefa del Campo y Valenzuela and Mercedes de Campo y Valenzuela.

The last child of Franciso Javier de Campos was Francisco Javier de Campo y Pizarro who got married to Candelaria Cuevas Ramírez. Their children were Manuela de las Mercedes Campo y Cuevas, José Hilario Campo y Cuevas, María Antonia de Campo y Cuevas, Juana de Campo y Cuevas, Candelaria Campo y Cuevas, Josefa Campo y Cuevas and Félix de Campo y Cuevas.

Early American and New World Settlers
The first Campos in arriving in America were Pedro de Campos who arrived in America in 1517, Martín de Campos who arrived in Peru in 1534, Manuel de Campos who landed in Panama in 1535, Isaac Henriques Campos who arrived in Jamaica in 1740, Judith Henrique Campos who also arrived in Jamaica but in 1749 and Francisco de Campos who landed in America in 1813.

Mottoes
We were unable to locate any documented mottoes for the Campos family.

Grantees
We were unable to locate any documented grantees for the Campos family.

Notables
Some of the most remarkable bearers of Campos in history are Adrian Campos (b.1960) a former Spanish Formula One driver, Liliana Campos (b.1971) a television presenter and model from Portugal, Ángelo Campos (b.1993) a Peruvian football player and Enrique Campos (b. 1961) a former Venezuela road bicycle racer.

Blazons & Genealogy Notes

1) P. de Bilbao – De gueules au lion d’or le champ chapé-ployé d’or à deux croissants affrontés d’azur. English: Gules a lion or the field chape-ploye [see slack discussion] or with two crescents affrontant [facing each other, one in each chape] azure.
2) Majorque – (Bover) – D’or à un lis au naturel la tige et les feuilles au naturel. English: Or a lily proper the stem and leaves proper.