# Ochoa

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ochoa
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ochoa.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochoa
> Source revision: 1344436479
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Ochoa** (Basque: *Otxoa* or *Otsoa*) is a Spanish[1] surname of Basque origin common throughout [Spain](/source/Spain), [France](/source/France), the [Americas](/source/Americas), and the [Philippines](/source/Philippines). It is a surname of [patronymic](/source/Patronymic) origin; it was originally a [given name](/source/Given_name) in [Medieval Spain](/source/Spain_in_the_Middle_Ages).

The name originated in the [Basque Country](/source/Basque_Country_(greater_region)) and means "the [wolf](/source/Wolf)", from the Basque vocabulary word *otso*/*otxo* meaning "wolf" (the suffix -a in the [Basque language](/source/Basque_language) represents the definite article). In [Standard Basque](/source/Standard_Basque), the name is spelled *otsoa* or *otxoa*. There was also a female given name *Ochanda* (meaning "female wolf", cf. the elegant tower in the old quarter of [Vitoria-Gasteiz](/source/Vitoria-Gasteiz) named after Ochanda, proper name of the daughter of a man responsible for revamping the tower in the 16th century) and *Ochotorena*or*Otxotorena*, meaning "son of Ochoto" (literally "small wolf"). The Spanish equivalent of this Basque given name was **[Lope](/source/Lope_(disambiguation))**, also appearing in the names of [Gascon](/source/Gascony) lords in the High Middle Ages.

## Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 32.2% of all known bearers of the surname *Ochoa* were residents of [Mexico](/source/Mexico) (frequency 1:671), 12.1% of [Colombia](/source/Colombia) (1:686), 11.8% of the [United States](/source/United_States) (1:5,302), 9.4% of [Venezuela](/source/Venezuela) (1:556), 5.8% of [Peru](/source/Peru) (1:949), 5.1% of [Guatemala](/source/Guatemala) (1:547), 4.8% of [Argentina](/source/Argentina) (1:1,537), 4.8% of [Ecuador](/source/Ecuador) (1:580), 3.1% of [Honduras](/source/Honduras) (1:492), 2.5% of [Spain](/source/Spain) (1:3,191), 1.6% of [Nicaragua](/source/Nicaragua) (1:651), 1.4% of [Cuba](/source/Cuba) (1:1,390), 1.4% of [Bolivia](/source/Bolivia) (1:1,286) and 1.3% of [El Salvador](/source/El_Salvador) (1:861).

In [Spain](/source/Spain), the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:3,191) in the following autonomous communities:

1. [La Rioja](/source/La_Rioja_(Spain)) (1:310)
1. [Navarre](/source/Navarre) (1:438)
1. [Basque Country](/source/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)) (1:1,261)
1. [Cantabria](/source/Cantabria) (1:1,963)
1. [Aragon](/source/Aragon) (1:2,024)
1. [Castilla-La Mancha](/source/Castilla-La_Mancha) (1:2,573)
1. [Community of Madrid](/source/Community_of_Madrid) (1:2,933)

In [Honduras](/source/Honduras), the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:492) in the following departments:[2]

1. [Choluteca](/source/Choluteca_Department) (1:147)
1. [Francisco Morazán](/source/Francisco_Moraz%C3%A1n_Department) (1:309)
1. [Olancho](/source/Olancho_Department) (1:370)
1. [Valle](/source/Valle_Department) (1:427)

## People

- [Alex Ochoa](/source/Alex_Ochoa) (born 1972), American baseball player
- [Arnaldo Ochoa](/source/Arnaldo_Ochoa) (1930–1989), Cuban army general, executed for treason
- [Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa](/source/Baltazar_Hinojosa_Ochoa) (born 1963), Mexican politician, mayor of Matamoros, Tamaulipas
- [Blake Ochoa](/source/Blake_Ochoa) (born 1985), Venezuelan baseball player
- [Blanca Fernández Ochoa](/source/Blanca_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Ochoa) (1963–2019), Spanish alpine skier
- [Carla Ochoa](/source/Carla_Ochoa) (born 1979), Chilean fashion model
- [Carlos Ochoa](/source/Carlos_Ochoa_(footballer)) (born 1978), Mexican football (soccer) player
- [Carlos José Ochoa](/source/Carlos_Jos%C3%A9_Ochoa) (born 1980), Venezuelan cyclist
- [Carlos M. Ochoa](/source/Carlos_M._Ochoa) (1920–2008), Peruvian botanist
- [Digna Ochoa](/source/Digna_Ochoa) (1964–2001), Mexican human-rights lawyer
- [Dominic Ochoa](/source/Dominic_Ochoa) (born 1974), Filipino actor
- [Annabelle Lopez Ochoa](/source/Annabelle_Lopez_Ochoa) (born 1973), Belgian dance choreographer
- [Eduardo López Ochoa](/source/Eduardo_L%C3%B3pez_Ochoa) (1877–1936), Spanish army general, Africanist, and Freemason
- [Eduardo M. Ochoa](/source/Eduardo_M._Ochoa) (born 1950), Argentine-American university president
- [Eliades Ochoa](/source/Eliades_Ochoa) (born 1946), Cuban guitarist and singer
- [Ellen Ochoa](/source/Ellen_Ochoa) (born 1958), first Mexican-American astronaut
- [Estevan Ochoa](/source/Estevan_Ochoa) (1831–1888), Mexican-born American businessman and politician
- [Eugenio de Ochoa](/source/Eugenio_de_Ochoa) (1815–1872), Spanish author and translator
- [Fabio Ochoa Restrepo](/source/Fabio_Ochoa_Restrepo) (a.k.a. "Don Fabio") (1923–2002), Colombian businessman, father of the [Ochoa brothers](/source/Ochoa_brothers)
- [Francisco Fernández Ochoa](/source/Francisco_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Ochoa) (1950–2006), Spanish alpine skier
- [Francisco Labastida Ochoa](/source/Francisco_Labastida) (born 1942), Mexican economist and politician
- [Gabriel Ochoa Uribe](/source/Gabriel_Ochoa_Uribe) (1929–2020), Colombian football player
- [Gabriela Ochoa](/source/Gabriela_Ochoa), Venezuelan British computer scientist
- [Gilda Ochoa](/source/Gilda_Ochoa), American professor
- [Gorka Otxoa](/source/Gorka_Otxoa) (born 1979), Spanish actor
- [Guillermo Ochoa](/source/Guillermo_Ochoa) (a.k.a. "Paco Memo") (born 1985), Mexican football (soccer) player
- [Israel Ochoa](/source/Israel_Ochoa) (born 1964), Colombian cyclist
- [Jesús Ochoa (footballer)](/source/Jes%C3%BAs_Ochoa_(footballer)) (born 1981), Mexican-American football (soccer) player
- [Jesús Ochoa](/source/Jes%C3%BAs_Ochoa_(actor)) (born 1959), Mexican actor
- [Ochoa brothers](/source/Ochoa_brothers), Colombian brothers Jorge, Juan David and Fabio Ochoa, former members of the Medellín drug cartel
- [Laura Lee Ochoa](/source/Laura_Lee_Ochoa) (born 1986), Bassist and Founder of Khruangbin.
- [Leire Martínez Ochoa](/source/Leire_Mart%C3%ADnez) (born 1979), Spanish-Basque singer, vocalist of [La Oreja de Van Gogh](/source/La_Oreja_de_Van_Gogh) after [Amaia Montero](/source/Amaia_Montero)'s departure
- [Leonorilda Ochoa](/source/Leonorilda_Ochoa) (1939–2016), Mexican actress
- [Lorena Ochoa](/source/Lorena_Ochoa) (born 1981), Mexican golfer
- [Manuel Ochoa](/source/Manuel_Ochoa) (1925–2006), Exiled Cuban musician and conductor, founder of the Miami Symphony Orchestra
- [Manuel López Ochoa](/source/Manuel_L%C3%B3pez_Ochoa) (1933–2011), Mexican actor
- [Mariana Ochoa](/source/Mariana_Ochoa) (born 1979), Mexican actress and singer
- [Paquito Ochoa, Jr.](/source/Paquito_Ochoa,_Jr.) (born 1960), Filipino lawyer and politician
- [Raymond Ochoa](/source/Raymond_Ochoa) (born 2001), American actor
- [Richard Ochoa](/source/Richard_Ochoa) (born 1984), Venezuelan track and road cyclist
- [Ryan Ochoa](/source/Ryan_Ochoa) (born 1996), American actor
- [Samuel Ochoa](/source/Samuel_Ochoa) (born 1986), Mexican football (soccer) player
- [Severo Ochoa](/source/Severo_Ochoa) (1905–1993), Spanish biochemist, Nobel Laureate, Medicine, 1959
- [Sigifredo Ochoa](/source/Sigifredo_Ochoa) (1942–2023), Salvadoran military officer and politician
- [Víctor Manuel Ochoa Cadavid](/source/V%C3%ADctor_Manuel_Ochoa_Cadavid) (1962–2025), Colombian Roman Catholic bishop
- [Wendi Andriano](/source/Wendi_Andriano) (born 1970), born Wendi Ochoa, American murderer

## Fictional characters

- Pablo Belisario Ochoa, one of the five genetic fathers of [Agent 47](/source/Agent_47) in the [*Hitman* video game series](/source/Hitman_(franchise))
- [Detective Miguel Ochoa](/source/Deadly_Heat#Characters), character in the [Nikki Heat](/source/Richard_Castle#Nikki_Heat_book_list) novels based on *[Castle](/source/Castle_(TV_series))* character [Detective Javier Esposito](/source/List_of_Castle_characters#Javier_Esposito)
- Tony Ochoa, Mexican-American character played by [Jacob Vargas](/source/Jacob_Vargas) in the [Netflix](/source/Netflix) series *[Mr Iglesias](/source/Mr._Iglesias)*
- Maritza Ochoa, [American Girl](/source/American_Girl) character
- Inspector Frank Ochoa, NYPD officer in the 1974 film *[Death Wish](/source/Death_Wish_(1974_film))*, played by Italian-American actor [Vincent Gardenia](/source/Vincent_Gardenia)

## Other

- [Ochoa syndrome](/source/Ochoa_syndrome), rare congenital syndrome associated with facial expressions and hydronephrosis

## References

1. [https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=ochoa](https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=ochoa)

1. [Ochoa surname distribution](http://forebears.co.uk/surnames/ochoa#surnames)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ochoa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochoa) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochoa?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.