Cuellar (surname)

Cuellar or Cuéllar is a specific name taken from Cuéllar, a town in the Segovia province of Spain. The name has a number of variations, including "Cuéllar", "de Cuéllar", "Cuellar", "de Cuellar", "cuello", "de Cuello", "Coello", and "de Coello". The surname first emerged in the Kingdom of Castile during the Middle Ages.

Origin and history

Records of the name's origin survived through the years, as it belonged to a noble family who made many alliances. One of the early passages referencing the surname says:

[Having said that,] in the early fifteenth century, which flourished in the Infante Don Fernando de Antequera, who was then king of Aragon, distinguished in their service, Fernan Cuéllar Velazquez, named for a native of the village of Cuéllar being the Chancellor and ambassador to Naples, three times viceroy of Sicily adds that he married into Doña Inés Alfonso's illustrious lineage. She continues, they had 12 children, the eldest son Fortun Cuéllar Velazquez, mayor of Seville in 1417, the royal Council of Castile in 1421; dean of Segovia, apostolic prothonotary, ambassador to France, the year 1454 and lately bishop of Leon.

Fortun's brother, Juan Velazquez B. Cuéllar, became a royal advisor in 1431, in place of his brother. He served until 1453 and was one of the 12 judges of the cause of Master Don Alvaro de Luna (whose castle is La Adrada). He announced he was leaving the world and entering the monastery of Our Lady of Armedilla, between Penafiel (a municipality in Porto District in the north of Portugal) and Cuellar. As he had no children, he ordered to have placed on his grave a wax head at his death. He died in his home. The services were held by Gutierre Velazquez de Cuellar, the third brother. "Here is your coat of arms: of azure and golden lion, at the top chief three lilies of the same metal; red bands divided by a silver band and loaded with 12 threads of gold roundels gules."

The family escutcheon, or heraldic shield, speaks of the founders of the Cuéllar line. To manifest to others, the differential elements included flowers bound to their own names (family name roses and pink probable foreign origin, English or German). The colors for the Cuéllar coat of arms declare these values: Azur; corresponds to the symbol of water, the continuity of life, is a color of nobility, beauty, chastity, and fidelity, plus other virtues that characterized the family, such as economic abundance, perseverance, luck, fame and the desire to win.

Research carried out in 2015 found that the geography of contemporary surnames and linguistic variability in Spain corresponds to the political geography at the end of the Middle Ages. This research helped infer whether Spanish surnames' present-day geographical variability mirrors historical phenomena in the 13th century through the 16th century. It also helped in infer the possible effect of immigration on the observed patterns of diversity.

Notable persons

Artists and academics

• José Cuéllar, Mexican professor
• Juan de Cuéllar, Spanish pharmacologist
• Nicolás Cuéllar (1927–2010), Mexican painter
• José Tomás de Cuéllar (1830–1894), poet, playwright, and novelist

Politicians and officials

• Francisco de Cuellar, Spanish sea captain
• Henry Cuellar, member of the United States House of Representatives
• Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1920–2020), Peruvian diplomat
• Juana Rangel de Cuéllar, Spanish conquistador
• Luis Francisco Cuéllar (1940–2009), Colombian politician
• Renato Cuellar, member of the Texas House of Representatives
• Savina Cuéllar, Bolivian politician

Sports players and coaches

• Ángel Cuéllar, Spanish former footballer
• Bobby Cuellar, American pitching coach
• Carlos Cuéllar, Spanish footballer
• David Cuéllar, Spanish footballer
• Diego Cuéllar, Salvadoran footballer
• Fabián Cuellar, Colombian footballer
• Fernando Cuellar, Peruvian footballer
• Gustavo Cuellar, Colombian footballer
• Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Mexican footballer
• Iván Cuéllar, Spanish footballer
• Jesus Cuellar, Argentine boxer
• Leonardo Cuéllar, Mexican former footballer
• Miguel Ángel Cuéllar, Paraguayan footballer
• Miguel Cuéllar, Colombian chess master
• Mike Cuellar (1937–2010), Cuban baseball player
• Pablo Cuéllar, Panamanian chess master
• Renae Cuéllar, Mexican–American footballer

Gallery

• 
  Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (1465–1524) was a Spanish conquistador and first governor of Cuba.
• 
  Mariano Enrique Calvo Cuellar (1782–1842) was the president of Bolivia.
• 
  Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1920–2020), a Peruvian diplomat, served as the fifth secretary-general of the United Nations.
• 
  Henry Cuellar, U.S representative for Texas's 28th congressional district.
• 
  Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, and official in the Clinton and Obama administrations.