Fernandez Family History

Spanish (Fernández): patronymic from the personal name Fernando. The surname (and to a lesser extent the variant Hernandez) has also been established in southern Italy mainly in Naples and Palermo since the period of Spanish dominance there.

Jewish (Sephardic): adoption of the name in 1 above at the moment of conversion to Roman Catholicism. After the return to Judaism (generations later) some Jewish descendants retained the surname that their families had adopted as Roman Catholics.