Portillo surname meaning

Portillo is a Spanish habitational surname from any of several places named Portillo—well-attested in Valladolid, Soria, and Toledo. The place-name is a diminutive of puerto, “mountain pass,” “gap,” or “gate,” so Portillo means roughly “little pass” or “narrow opening.” Families living at or near such a gap took the locality’s name. Because the landscape feature is common, unrelated Portillo lines can arise in different provinces. Portilla is a related feminine-form place-name surname. Place is the catalog type, and the puerto diminutive analysis is high confidence.