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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Spanish : of uncertain origin; possibly from a Visigothic personal name Fafila, or alternatively from a derivative of faba, a regional form of haba ‘broad bean’. Possibly in some instances, it could be based on Portuguese and Galician fabela ‘small plot’.
  • Southern Portuguese (also Brazilian) : topographic name from favela ‘slum’.

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