Castaneda surname meaning

Castaneda is the unaccented U.S. spelling of Spanish Castañeda, a habitational surname from places of that name in Cantabria, Asturias, Salamanca, and elsewhere. The place name is built from castaña, “chestnut,” with a collective or location ending, so it means a chestnut grove or a place characterized by chestnut trees. Castañedo and De Castañeda are related forms. Place is the high-confidence catalog type. Multiple chestnut-named localities mean separate families could take the same surname; records are needed to identify which Castañeda a particular line left.