 A cognate surname in Italian is "Ortica", in Romanian "Urzică", in French "Ortie", all from Latin "urtica".Roberto Faure, coauthor of the "Diccionario de Apellidos Españoles", states that Ortega is derived from the noun "ortega", a spelling variant of the modern Castilian Spanish "" "nettle".The name of the plant is found as a toponym in various places in Spain, such as Ortega (Burgos), Ortega (Jaén) or Ortega (Monfero, A Coruña).