Wia Family History

Altered form of French Viar 1 or perhaps of some other similar (like-sounding) French surname, such as Vier 3 and Viat, a cognate of Viet 2. Alternatively, a Frenchified form of an unidentified German surname. Compare Viar 2, Viars , Vier 2, and Vire .

Italian (southern): from a short form of a personal name or surname ending with -via, for example Bellavia .

Italian (southern): from a variant of Bia, a personal name of Greek origin, a calque of Latin Vita ‘life’.

Spanish and Italian: habitational name from a place called Vía ‘way, path’.

Catalan: habitational name from a village called Via in Cerdanya.

In some cases possibly also southern French: habitational name from Via in Pyrénées-Orientales, named from the Latin personal name Avitius + the suffix -anum. This surname is very rare in France.

In some cases possibly also Breton (Côtes-d'Armor): unexplained.

History: The progenitor of a large part of the American Vias is usually identified as Amer (William) Via, one of the French Huguenot settlers of Manakin, VA, in the early 1700s. He was born in the middle of the 17th century in Haute-Marne, France; his father was reportedly a German. The supposed original French form of the surname is sometimes given as De Viar. The surname Via (see 1 above) is listed in the (US) National Huguenot Society's register of qualified Huguenot ancestors (in this register, the Huguenot ancestor of the Vias is named Pierre Amer Via or Vias or Viet) and also in the similar register of the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin (in this register, the Huguenot ancestor is named simply Amer Via).