MENDOZA The easier translation, Would be MENDI- OTZA,that is COOL MOUNT, but the OZ or OZA can be a derivative like MUNIOZ, and in this case the Mendi, can be Mendo, a personal name used in the middle-age, lets forget the second possibility.

It was a very noble family, derivated or relative with the Lords of Bizkaia, and The Lords of Llodio. There is a Town near Vitoria as you say. But there has been other houses Mendoza in Bizkaia: Sestao, Bermeo, Arrieta, Fika, Gamiz, and in Gipuzkoa in the Valey of Leniz, a branche of the Mendoza Family used the surname Hurtado de Mendoza. There also existed a House Mendoza in Galicia (near Rivadavia, province of Orense)

In 1668 there were in Bilbao a prove of Nobility of a man surnamed Mendoza, born in Arrieta (Bizkaia), and he shown that his ancestors arrived from Mendoza in Araba, (Arrieta, Gamiz and Fika are very close). There were men with the name Mendoza in the Battle of "Navas de Tolosa" in 1212.

There are various coats of arms, depending on the branche of the familie.

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