Is Torre a Spanish name or is it Italian?

I know Torres is Spanish, but I've always wondered if Torre is also Spanish.

Is Torre a Spanish name or is it Italian?
"Torre" means "tower" in Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian and Corsu. It could be any of those.
Reply:Torre meaning origin


1.Galician, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of the numerous places named Torres, all named with the plural of torre 鈥榯ower鈥?(see Torre).


2.Italian: habitational name from Torres in Belluno or Porto Torres in Sassari. In southern Italy the surname is sometimes a borrowing from Spanish (see 1).


3.Dutch: from a short form of Victoris, from the Latin personal name Victorius.
Reply:Torre : origins %26amp; meanings:


Italian: topographic name for someone who lived near a tower, usually a defensive fortification or watchtower (from Latin turris), or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word, as for example Torre Annunziata or Torre del Greco in Naples province, Torre de鈥?Passeri (Pescara, Abruzzo), or Torre di Ruggiero (Catanzaro, Calabria).


Galician, Catalan, Aragonese, Spanish, and Portuguese: habitational name from any of the numerous places so named in Galicia (often in the form De la Torre), in Catalonia and Aragon (as for example La Torre de Fontalbella, La Torre del Compte, La Torre de Fluvi脿), or from any of the many places in Spain and Portugal named Torre or La Torre, from torre 鈥?watch) tower鈥?(of the same etymology as 1).
Reply:The common thread in the above (good) answer is that all of those places have roots in Latin languages. This is why you can have a certain name which is NOT limited to coming from only one location.


If this is a family name, the way to find out is to trace the person back, and determine where their ancestors came from.
Reply:A good clue is to find out who the original ancestor was who came over and check his first name. While many of them Americanized their names, many also kept their original names.
Reply:In Spanish, torre means tower and torres means towers
Reply:www.surnamedb.com





Surname: Torre


This name, with variant spellings Torra and Torre, has two distinct possible origins, the first and most likely being a topographical name for one resident by a rocky peak or hill. The derivation is from the old ENGLISH pre -7th Century "torr" translating variously as "a high rock, rocky peak or hill", ultimately from the CELTIC "tor", a prominence or mountain. The second possibility is that the name derives from the old FRENCH "tor", a bull, and originally given as a nickname to a strong powerfully built man. John le Tor, recorded in the 1240 "Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire", derives his name from this source. The recordings from the former source include Martin de la Torre, (Devonshire, 1242) and Walter atte Torre, (Sussex, 1296). Early bearers of the name in SCOTLAND were Matthew de Torre who witnesses a transaction in St. Andrews, (1288), and Thomas de la Tour of Ayrshire who rendered homage in 1296. The old lands of Torr in Fife were named from the Celtic element "tor", and some Torrs may hail from this spot. William Torr, (1808 - 1874), agriculturist, gained a reputation as a live-stock judge in England and abroad. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Torra, which was dated 1182, "The Pipe Rolls of Cornwall", during the reign of King Henry II, "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189.





www.familysearch.org lists these varied spellings (and where found/listed from): TOURS (Germany, England) ; THOR (Denmark); TUER (England); DE LA TOR (Chile); TORR (USA); THUR (Canada); DE LA TORRE (Argentina, USA,Australia, Guam ); THUER (Switzerland); TOWERS/TOWER (England--I'd say maybe pronounced with a long o, such as "toe";) ; DELLA TORRE (Canada); DELE TOURE (England) ; TORRES (El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela,Bolivia); VAN DER TORRE (Netherlands); **THORSEN (Denmark, the "SEN" is for "son"); **THORSDR (the DR is for "daughter"--English spelling; Denmark); TORREBLANCA (Mexico, going by the info above, this would basically equal the name WHITEHILL);


TORESON** (Norway); TORSSON **(Norway); TORDSSON**


(Sweden); THORNTONS (Sweden); THORESSON(Sweden);


THURESSON (Sweden); TORDSEN (Denmark); THOERSDATTER and its masculine form THOERSEN (Denmark); TORERSDATTER and its masculine form TORERSEN (Norway); THORN (Sweden); %26amp;TURE (Sweden).





The earliest listing I found here and on http://trees.ancestry.se


(Swedish site of ancestry.com) was


ALBERT VON TORRE VON SAX--b.1133 ; d. 1185 (it seems he was a General; from Sweden; his father was Alcherius VON TORRE , and he died about 1176/81.








**In the Scandinavian countries--Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark--the sons add either SON/SSON/SEN/SSEN to their father's name and use it either as a middle or last name, and daughters add DTR/DR/DATTER/DOTTER in a similar way.

leander