Ochoa

Ochoa is a name of Basque origin.

Surname origins

Ochoa was originally a given name in medieval Spain. It originated in the Basque Country and means 'wolf' (spelled otsoa or otxoa in Standard Basque). There was also a female given name Ochanda (meaning 'female wolf', cf. the elegant tower in the old quarter of Vitoria-Gasteiz named after Ochanda, proper name of the daughter of a man responsible for revamping the tower in the 16th century). The Spanish version of this Basque given name was Lope, appearing too in the names of Gascon lords in the high Middle Ages.

Ochoa became a surname as a patronymic. It does not have the -ez suffix as do other Spanish patronymics due to the Basque origin of the name. Lope for example became a surname as López. There is Ochotorena/Otxotorena, meaning 'son of Ochoto' (small wolf').

From the Basque Country it spread to the rest of Spain, Portugal and then to the Americas. About a 25% of the Spanish Ochoas still live in the Basque area of Spain (Basque Country and Navarre).

Persons

The name may refer to:

• Alex Ochoa (1972–), American baseball player
• Arnaldo Ochoa (1930–1989), Cuban army general, executed for treason
• Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa (1930–), Mexican politician, mayor of Matamoros, Tamaulipas
• Carla Ochoa (1979-), Chilean fashion model
• Carlos Ochoa (1978–), Mexican football (soccer) player
• Digna Ochoa (1964–2001), Mexican human-rights lawyer
• Eduardo López Ochoa (1877–1936), Spanish army general, Africanist, and Freemason
• Eliades Ochoa (1946–), Cuban guitarist and singer
• Ellen Ochoa (1958–), first Mexican-American astronaut
• Estevan Ochoa (1831-1888), Mexican-born American businessman and politician
• Eugenio de Ochoa (1815–1872), Spanish author and translator
• Fabio Ochoa Restrepo (a.k.a. "Don Fabio") (1923–2002), Colombian businessman, father of the Ochoa brothers
• Francisco Fernández Ochoa (1950–2006), Spanish alpine skier
• Francisco Labastida Ochoa (1942–), Mexican economist and politician
• Guillermo Ochoa (a.k.a. "Paco Memo") (1985–), Mexican football (soccer) player
• Israel Ochoa (1964–), Colombian cyclist
• Javier Otxoa (1974–), Spanish cyclist
• Jesús Ochoa (1981–), Mexican-American football (soccer) player
• Jesús Ochoa (1959-), Mexican actor
• Leire Martínez Ochoa (1979–), Spanish-Basque singer, vocalist of La Oreja de Van Gogh after Amaia Montero's departure
• Lewis Ochoa (1991-), English football (soccer) player
• Lorena Ochoa (1981–), Mexican golfer
• Mariana Ochoa (1979–), Mexican actress and singer
• Miguel Ochoa, a fictional detective in the Nikki Heat novel series.
• Raymond Ochoa (2001-), American actor and brother of Ryan Ochoa.
• Richard Ochoa (1984–), Venezuelan track and road cyclist
• Ryan Ochoa (1996–), American actor
• Ochoa brothers, former members of the Medellin drug cartel
• Samuel Ochoa (1996-), Mexican football (soccer) player
• Severo Ochoa (1905–1993), Spanish biochemist, Nobel Laureate, Medicine, 1959

Fictional characters

• Pablo Belisario Ochoa, one of the five genetic fathers of Agent 47 in the Hitman series
• Julio Ochoa, incumbent mayor of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV

Other

• Ochoa syndrome, rare congenital syndrome associated with facial expressions and hydronephrosis

This page or section lists people with the surname Ochoa. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

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