history of this last name
I notice that many last names of Spanish, French, English and even Greek people have the prefix GALA. What is the origin and history of this? My father was an orpan and I am an only child (53 years old now) and we have no knowledge of our family name origin. Could you please shed some light on this as my father is now 101 years old and I would like foe him to know and feel some connection.
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Replies

I've seen the "Gall-" or "Gal-" mean a number of things ...in Italian, it can mean "rooster" ...It could also be related to the term "Gaul" as in the early Celtic people of Western Europe. I've seen various derivatives for that term as well. One I recall was "milky" ...referring presumably to a whitish colour.
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Galavís and Galabis appear to be Spanish surnames, as are Galbis and Galvis (Catalan? Aragonese?).
There could be a connection with Gálvez, another Spanish surname.
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