Peruvian Last Name Generator

Generate Peruvian last names one at a time: Quechua and Aymara family names like Quispe, Mamani, Huamán and Ccori, Amazonian names like Ahuanari and Tapullima, north-coast names like Llontop and Yamunaqué, and the Japanese, Chinese and Italian surnames of the coast, next to the Spanish surnames Peru carries most. The list has 500 surnames in the spellings Peruvians use.

About Peruvian last names

Peru has one of the most varied stocks of surnames in the Spanish-speaking world. Spanish surnames such as Flores, Rojas, Chávez and Vargas are carried everywhere, but beside them stand family names from the country's own languages. In the central and southern highlands these are Quechua: Quispe, Huamán (falcon), Ccori (gold), Nina (fire) and Yupanqui. Around Lake Titicaca many are Aymara, among them Mamani, Apaza and Ticona. They appear here as the civil registry writes them, so the double Cc of Ccori or Ccama stands for a Quechua consonant that Spanish does not have.

Other regions add layers of their own. Lambayeque keeps names from the extinct Mochica language, such as Llontop, Chapoñán and Siesquén, and Piura has Yamunaqué, Ipanaqué and Querevalú. In the Amazon, Kukama families carry names like Ahuanari, Murayari and Tamani, and the Lamas area of San Martín has Tapullima, Sangama and Shupingahua. On the coast, Chinese immigration from 1849 and Japanese immigration from 1899 brought Wong, Chang, Kcomt, Higa and Shimabukuro, and Italian families brought Raffo, Parodi and Sanguineti.

Every Peruvian has two surnames, the father's first and then the mother's, so a realistic full name takes two entries, as in Quispe Mamani. Many Andean names are shared with Bolivia and other neighbors, and a surname alone says nothing certain about a person's ancestry.

How to choose Peruvian last names

• Use two surnames for a full Peruvian name: the father's first surname, then the mother's. Rosa Huamán Condori and Luis Flores Apaza are built the way an identity card shows a name.
• Match the surname to the region. Quechua and Aymara names suit Cusco, Ayacucho and Puno, Amasifuén or Pizango suit Loreto and San Martín, Llontop or Yarlequé suit Lambayeque and Piura, and Lima mixes all of them.
• Keep the Peruvian spelling. Gonzales, Espinoza, Vásquez and Benites are written elsewhere as González, Espinosa, Vázquez and Benítez, and Huamán and Huamaní are two different surnames, not variants.
• For a Japanese or Chinese Peruvian character, pair a Spanish given name with the surname, as in Lucía Kanashiro or Julio Chang. Miyagui, Yagui and Maruy are Spanish-style spellings that families in Peru use for Miyagi, Yagi and Marui.
• Do not read ancestry off a name. Surnames pass through marriage and migration, and plenty of Peruvians with Quispe or Wong as one surname carry Rojas or Vargas as the other.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common Peruvian last names?

Quispe is regularly named as the most common surname in Peru. Flores, Rojas, Chávez, Vargas, Mamani, Huamán and Espinoza are also carried by very many families, and all of them are in the list.

What do Quechua last names mean?

Many are everyday Quechua words. Huamán is a falcon, Ccori is gold, Nina is fire, Cusi is joy, and Puma and Cóndor are the animals. Mamani is the Aymara word for a falcon. The registry spellings differ from modern Quechua writing, which would give Waman and Qori.

Why do Peruvians have two last names?

Peru follows the Spanish custom in which a child takes the father's first surname followed by the mother's first surname. Both are official and both appear on documents, although in daily life people often go by the first one alone.

Are these surnames found only in Peru?

No. Quispe, Mamani, Condori and Choque are just as much at home in Bolivia, and the Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Chinese names are found wherever those families settled. The list shows what Peruvians carry, not names that belong to Peru alone.

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All 500 Peruvian last names