Mendoza

Mendoza is a surname of Basque origin, also occurring as a place name. It means Cold Mountain, from words in the Basque language, mendi (mountain) and (h)otz (cold) + definite article '-a' (Mendoza being mendi+(h)otza). When related to Spain, it usually applies to the descendants of the Mendoza family, an old basque noble family originally from Alava. The spelling of place names in basque has varied from the original 'mendotza' to 'mendontze' in the 1890s, 'mendoche' in the 1920s, 'mendotxe' in the 1980s to the restored original of 'mendotza' being the current.