Where the Aguilar name comes from

Aguilar comes out of Spanish as a description of a place, meaning "from the eagle's lair". Behind it sits águila, the Spanish word for eagle. One early bearer, Gerónimo de Aguilar, born in 1489, worked as a translator for Hernán Cortés. The surname is most often found in Mexico today.

Aguilar took a second route into the Philippines through the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos. It is now common in Cebu and Davao del Sur, in Iloilo and Negros Occidental, and in Camarines Sur and Albay.