Last name: Camacho

Although this surname is regarded as being Spanish and Portuguese, its origins are probably Gaelic, perhaps from an age before Christianity. It is now popular enough to be well recorded in most parts of the western hemisphere. It is a nickname, and is believed to derive from the ancient word 'camb' meaning twisted or disfigured. As such it was probably applied to a person with bow legs, or who suffered some visible physical disability. In the more 'enlightened' 20th century, such terminology would be considered unacceptable when applied to a person, but this does not seem to have worried people back in ancient times. It is clear from a study of the famous medieval English author Geoffrey Chaucer, that people in those times do not seem to have minded what they were called, as long as they were sufficiently noteworthy as to be called something! Many surnames, particulary those derived from nicknames, have some very basic origins, but this does not seem to have effected their subsequent popularity, as in the case with Camacho. Early examples of the name recording include Joshua Camacho on January 19th 1729 at Santa Maria de la Guadalope, and Torres Camacho at Santa Vera Cruz, Mexico, on November 19th 1872. The coat of arms has the blazon of a red field, charged with a gold tower, between two trees. In chief there are two knights spurs. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Juana Camacho, which was dated June 2nd 1662, at Asuncion, Districto Federal, Mexico, during the reign of King Phillip 1V of Spain and Emperor of Mexico, 1621 - 1665. 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.

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