MEDARIS (MENDARIZ) There is not exist any basque surname like MEDARIS, but if you are sure that your grandfather says it was basque, there has been any mutation in the surname.

When basques go outside in the past, they don,t know very well How to write, they told their names to the authorities and they wrote as they want. In basque the Z sound like the S (it does not exist the spanish sound Z), if the surname is MEDARIZ it begin to sound like basque, and if we insert an N between E and D, we have MENDARIZ and this is a basque surname (other is Mendarizaga), there was very tipical to make shorter basques surnames because they were difficult to pronounce for americans. Here is an example: a basque man went to Idaho and his surname was ZENARRUZABEITIA, now his son is secretary of the state and his name is Pete CENARRUSA (here you see How the Z is changed by the S, and then they made shorter the surname).

Other possibilities are the surnames MEDIARAS, MEDRADI, but I think it is more probable Mendariz or Mendarizaga.

In any case there is few information about these surnames Mendariz, can be The mountain of the oak, and Mendarizaga the place of the mountain of the oak. MENDI:Mountain, ARITZ:Oak.

In Gipuzkoa there is a village named MENDARO, and the sufix IZ is also a derivative as the spanish EZ (Lopez, Martinez...), so Mendariz can also be a derivate of Mendaro.

In Bizkaia, is documented that in 1497 there was a family with the surname Mendariz.

This page is part of Buber's Basque Page and is maintained by Blas Uberuaga. Please report any problems or suggestions to Blas. Eskerrik asko!