Naples under the Spanish crown
The Kingdom of Naples came under the Crown of Aragon in 1442. From 1504 to 1714 it was governed as a Spanish viceroyalty, until the Treaty of Rastatt passed it to the Austrian Habsburgs.1 For those two centuries Neapolitan nobles were subjects of the Spanish king. They served in his armies, received his titles and married into Castilian families. Heráldica Familiar puts it simply: the surname is of Italian origin and spread through Spain.2
The d'Ávalos-Aquino alliance
In 1452 the heiress Antonella d'Aquino married Innico I d'Ávalos, of a Castilian family settled in Naples. She brought the marquisate of Pescara and other titles to the marriage. Their descendants used the double name d'Ávalos d'Aquino. They include the Spanish general Fernando de Ávalos and Alfonso de Ávalos, governor of Milan.32
Titles from the kings of Spain
| Year | Grant | Granted by |
|---|---|---|
| 1412 | Bernardo Gaspar de Aquino, 1st Marquis of Pescara | Neapolitan crown4 |
| 1602 | Carlos de Aquino, Prince of Castellón (Zamora, 13 Feb 1602) | Philip II of Spain4 |
| 1637 | Francisco de Aquino, Prince of Feroleto (Madrid, 11 Apr 1637) | Philip IV of Spain4 |
| 1699 / 1702 | Juan Tomás de Aquino, Grandee of Spain; took his place before Philip V in Naples, 26 Apr 1702 | Spanish crown4 |
The Aquino were later counted among the families holding the rank of Grandee of Spain.3 One branch lost its standing in the Habsburg period. Ladislao d'Aquino, made Duke of Bisceglie in 1526, had his fiefs confiscated in 1528 after joining a rebellion against Charles V.3
The surname in Spain today
The name is uncommon in Spain itself. WikiApellidos, using Spanish statistics office (INE) data, counts about 2,188 people with Aquino as first surname, 1,837 as second surname, and 18 with both. It ranks around 2,218th in the country.4 By province of birth, the largest numbers are in Huelva (124), Madrid (114), Barcelona (52), Sevilla (51) and Cádiz (48). Andalucía as a whole accounts for 245.5 The concentration in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona likely reflects, at least in part, recent immigration from Latin America and the Philippines. That reading is this site's interpretation, not a finding of the statistics.
Spain has far fewer Aquinos than the Dominican Republic, Paraguay or the Philippines. That fits the picture above: the name grew mostly in the colonies, through devotion, baptism and colonial naming, not through emigration from one Spanish source.6