Coronado

This famous Spanish and Italian surname is of unknown etymology. The name appears in many spellings and in a number of countries, these forms include Corona, Coronas, Coronado, Couronne (French), Krone (German), Krona, Kroon (Scandanavian), Kroin and Krojn (Polish). The translation is 'the crown' but why anybody should be so named is far from clear. Most dictionaries of surnames describe it as either a habitational name for somebody who lived at a house or perhaps an inn with the sign of a crown, or had their head shaved in accordance with some religious belief. In that respect it could also have been a nickname for one was going bald, and whose 'crown' showed through his hair, whilst a further explanation is that the name was a metonymic job descriptive for a maker of helmets or hats. The coat of arms as shown below suggests a religious explanation. Examples of the surname recording taken from appropriate civil and religious recordings includes Eleonara Corona, christened at Taranto, Italy, on May 1st 1790, Maria Dolores Coronado, christened at San Gabriel, California, on April 4th 1866, and Joseph Corona, christened at San Jose, California, on January 26th 1956. The blazon of the arms has a green field charged with a cross flory in gold, in left chief a gold ducal coronet, and in right base a silver fleur de lis. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Manuel Oruna Corona, which was dated March 1st 1752, christened at Santander, Spain, during the reign of King Ferdinand V1 of Spain, known as 'The wise one', 1746 - 1759. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.