Melendez surname meaning

Melendez is the common unaccented form of Spanish Meléndez, which surname references treat as a variant of Menéndez. The -ez ending is the familiar Iberian patronymic marker, so the surname identifies descent from an ancestor named Menendo or a related medieval personal-name form. Menendez, Menéndez, Melendrez, and the accented Meléndez may appear in the same broad documentary discussion, though records should not merge families automatically. The deeper personal-name etymology is separate from the surname formation. Parent’s name is the secure catalog type, with high confidence in the Spanish patronymic structure.