The Misterious Surname Lava Home Page

Tracing back your surnames is like travelling in the past. It is an exciting journey that helps you to define yourself better as you discover where you come from. When searching for your family ties you can come across surprises of things you did not know before and this, makes it more exciting. In this journey, however, it is not always easy to find all the tickets to your family "destinations" and when you finally do, you feel as if you had been on a train for hours trying to get somewhere!!
This is my case and perhaps I will be able to get some help from anyone who knows something about the surname LAVA. I have looked in Spanish manuscripts and it seems that this surname does not come from Spain. I always thought that most of the surnames in Peru came from Spain but this does not seem to be the case. The first Lava I have information about, settled in southern Peru possibly between late 1700's and early 1800's. They were two brothers and one of them married a lady of surname Aranguren, a basque surname. I am a fourth generation descendant of this marriage.
Let me know if you have any information that can help me in getting back this part of me.