About us
| Baca | |
|---|---|
| Current region | New Mexico, United States |
| Etymology | variant of Vaca |
| Place of origin | Santa Fe de Nuevo México |
The progenitors of the Baca family of New Mexico were Cristóbal Baca (Vaca) and his wife Ana Ortiz. Cristóbal was a military captain who arrived in 1600 with his family in order to help reinforce the Spanish colonial Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial México) ... The surname "Baca" is often assumed to be a variation of the name "Cabeza de Vaca." Cabeza de Vaca means "head of a cow" in Spanish."
There is a family tree shown on the Baca Family Historical Project site at
An excellent source for more about these New Mexican families is:
Chávez, Fray Angélico, Origins of New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Spanish Colonial Period, rev. ed. (Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico, 1992)