Mena (surname)


Mena is a Spanish surname that originates as both a Basque and Spanish Sephardic surname. It is also a feminine given name. The Meena tribe of India is also spelled as Mena.

Basque meaning

Found in the valley of Mena, with branches in Bilbao and in Dima and it appears to have also moved from there into Navarre; regions now part of Spain. It appears to mean mineral or a vein of mineral deposits, however at least one author, Lopez Mendizabal, holds that its meaning is pastoral. A variant of the surname is Menaca, with the '-ka' suffix representing "place of", as in "place of Mena", equivalent to the Spanish "de Mena".

Notable people with the name