View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

[Surname] Re: Huaranga
in reply to a message by Sven
Huaranga appears to be Peruvian rather than Spanish, perhaps Inca.
This website gives one explanation of the word huaranga -
http://www.incaperu.org/ant/wamachuko/1993(1).html
There you can read that, "The local population was divided into four ranked huarangas (an Inca administrative unit of a thousand households) ..."
I'm not sure that this is the meaning of the name, which was in use as a personal name in the 16th century, when an Inca named Urco Huaranga was around.
vote up1vote down

Replies

Thanks this really helped! :)
vote up1vote down
There are Huarangas in Spain as you can see at http://tr.im/ifLV. Judging by where some of them live, I'd say the name is probably Catalan. You might find the origin in Moll's Els llinatges catalans which I don't have at hand.
vote up1vote down
They could be Peruvian immigrants, like the Huaranga mentioned in this article -
http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/ediciononline/html/2008-10-04/racismo-contra-peruanos-espana-denunciado-legislador-andino.html
According to another article on the BBC Mundo website, Colombian and Peruvian residents in Spain number 400,000 combined.
vote up1vote down