Falcon (surname)

Falcon is a surname. Some possible places of origin are:
* Pompeyo Falcó, a Roman consul, [ [http://www.family-crests.org/dichisdeapyb1.html www.family-crests.org "Diccionario hispano" (Spanish)] ]
* a Scandinavian prince, who arrived in Spain about 1080
* a prince of Sulcia, called Falcón, who ruled the island of Candia, near Venice, Italy and who married a daughter of King Camirto of DaciaA possible beginning of the patronymic derivation of Falcon is Saint Falcón, who died in 1147, and is attributed with the popularization of the given name. Another is the Italian surname Falcó and Falcóne, which could easily have become Falcón in Spain.

In the coastal area of Languedoc, Girona and Ibiza there are areas known as Falcó, which may account for the surname in Cataluna, Baleares and Valencia. Among the oldest of Valencia's historical Falcons is Micer Rodrigo Falcon recorded in 1441 as the Chancellery of Aragon. He obtained ownership of the plaza of vice-chancellor in 1460. HIs nephew was the famous doctor of law, Micer Damian Andres Falcon, noted to be "of much eloquent in speech".

However, the Falcon surname in which most Falcons in North America descend comes from these cities in the regions of Extremadura, Spain and Andalusia, Spain.

In 1508, Diego Falcon, originally from Montehermoso, Extremadura, Spain, left for Gran Canaria shortly after it was conquered by the Spanish. He lived on the island with his wife Maria Dominquez and his daughter Leonor. He was captain of the Spanish military infantry there and royal mayor of Teror, Gran Canaria. Almost all Falcon families which trace back to the Gran Canaria, including Cuba, Florida, Louisiana and Venezuela are descendant from Diego.

Marcos Alonzo Garza Y del Arcon Falcon was born around 1560 in Lepe, Andalusia, Spain. serving the military and married in 1585 to Juana de Treviño from a prominent Mexico City military family. His assignments took the family to Durango and Zacatecas where his duties were supervising the mining of silver and gold. His whole family ended up in Nuevo León in the time period between 1596 and 1603, after completion of his military career. The family of Marcos Alonzo is included in the list of the 12 original founding families of Monterrey, which was founded in 1596 [ [http://www.vsalgs.org/stnemgenealogy/mgarza.htm www.vsalgs.org "Sample Lineages: Marcos Alonzo de la Garza"] ] Almost all Falcon families around northern Mexico and Texas stem from this lineage, including Captain Blas María de la Garza Falcón, who was a Spanish Settler of Tamaulipas and South Texas. [en.wikipedia.org "Blas María de la Garza Falcón"]

Abd ar-Rahman I Arabic: (عبد الرحمن الداخل), (known as the "Falcon of Andalus" or "The Falcon of the Quraish") [1] (born 731; ruled from 756 through his death circa 788) was the founder of a Muslim dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries. The Muslims called the regions of Iberia under their dominion al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman was the grandson of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the tenth Umayyad Caliph. Abd ar-Rahman was a prince and was groomed from an early age to be a caliph. More specifically, he was the son of Mu'awiyah, son of Hisham, grandson of Abd al-Malik. The child-prince was said to be tall and slender. His mother was a Christian Nafza Berber slave, and from her he inherited red hair. Interesting features attributed to Abd ar-Rahman are that he was unable to see from one of his eyes, had a distinctive mole on his face, and had a poor sense of smell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_ar-Rahman_I

Excellent site for researching Falcons in Louisiana. http://www.geocities.com/falconislenos/

*Cornélie Falcon (1812-1897) French soprano
*Blas María de la Garza Falcón
*Joe Falcon, athlete
*Joe Falcon, Cajun musician
*Robert Falcon Scott
*Juan Crisóstomo Falcón
*Nick Falcon

References