Found in the
valley of Mena (
Alava, which today is
Burgos), with branches in
Bilbao and in
Dima (
Biscay) and it appears to have also moved from there into
Navarre; regions now part of
Spain. It appears to mean mineral or a vein of mineral deposits. However, at least one author, Lopez Mendizabal, holds that its meaning is pastoral. A variant of the surname is
Menaca, with the '-ka' suffix representing "place of", as in "place of Mena", equivalent to the Spanish "de Mena". ==Notable people with the name==