OLIBARRI In Tolosa (Gipuzkoa) in 1772 (that means that is documented than in Tolosa lived a man with this surname, o perhaps that a prove of Nobility is documented).

Well, all basque surnames are names of houses, families took the name of the house in what they lived (before the Trento Council, that oblished to put to the children the same surname as their father), and I cannot find any house with this name, so let's go with ULIBARRI (I think is more probable than Uribarri)

There are houses with the name Ulibarri in Aretxabaleta, and in Bergara (Both in Gipuzkoa), I suposse than the one in Aretxabaleta is the older, because Bergara is a Town. A man called Miguel Ulibarri proved his nobility in Arrasate-Mondragon in 1623,

There are also Ulibarri houses and places in Nabarra and Araba, there are a branche derivated from Araba in Zeanuri (Bizkaia) but in Bizkaia there is not any house with this name.

If the original name is URIBARRI, the problem is bigger, because in Bizkaia are 43 houses with the name Uribarri, and in Gipuzkoa there are 2 houses. In Bizkaia there is a house named Olivares in Zeanuri (people think that this house had a basque name and by any transcription error was changed to Olivares)

Coat of Arms:

1st coat: En plata, un roble de sinople, y un lebrel atado a su tronco. Bordura de gules con ocho aspas de oro

2nd coat: En gules, un losanje de plata

3rd coat: En oro, una campan~a de sinople (not campana, but campanha).

I don't believe in the coats, but the existance of three for an unusual surname like yours, shows that the were militars.

There is another variation of your surname: OLIBARRO (in Uruguay)

In other book that I have about basque surnames says that now, there is not any family with your surname living in the Basque Country

Meaning : the experts think than Uribarri,Ulibarri, Olibarri etc.. have the same meaning URI: Town or group of houses, BARRI: New........but there is another theory that says that URI means in the past farm and then pased to be Town, in the same way that the lathin word VILLA means originally farm, and then passed to be Town,. In any case I prefer the meaning of New Town, but you must understand for Town a small group of houses (enough with 3 or 4), basque farms or houses don't use to be together, so in the past if three were very closed, people call to this "Town". Now in basque URI or HIRI is used for cities or Towns as Bilbao, or Austin, or Dallas.

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!