Serpa Family History

Italian: nickname from serpa ‘reptile serpent’ a dialect variant of Serpe. Portuguese: habitational name from a place so named near Beja. This surname is probably also found in Spain (mainly Canary Islands); see also 3 below.

Spanish (Andalusia): nickname from serpa (a variant of jerpa) ‘vine shoot’ or from the feminine form of dialect serpe ‘snake serpent’. This surname which is most frequent in the Canary Islands may also be of Portuguese origin (see 2 above).

Compare Cerpa and Zerpa.