<P> Ortega is a Spanish surname . In the 9th century a Saint Raymundo Ortega of Bejar was recorded to be in Salamanca, Spain . A baptismal record in 1570 records a de Ortega "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain . The toponym derives from Latin urtica, meaning "nettle". </P> <P> Some of the Ortega spelling variants are: Ortega, Ortego, de Ortega, Ortegada, Ortegal, Hortega, Ortiga, Ortigueda, Ortigueira, Ortigosa, Orreaga, etc . A cognate surname in Italian is Ortica, in Romanian Urzică, in French Ortie, all from Latin urtica . </P> <P> Roberto Faure, coauthor of the Diccionario de Apellidos Españoles, states that Ortega is derived from the noun ortega, a spelling variant of the modern Castilian Spanish ortiga "nettle". The name of the plant is found as a toponym in various places in Spain, such as Ortega (Burgos), Ortega (Jaén) or Ortega (Monfero, A Coruña). Mexican author Gutierre Tibón advanced the alternative theory that the name derives from Ortún, earlier Fortún, from the Latin name Fortunius with an added suffix "- eca". The Dictionary of American Surnames additionally states that the name may derive from ortega: "black grouse ." </P> <P> The first Bishop of Almería, Juan de Ortega, died in the early 16th century, while another early occurrence is found in the baptismal record of Phelpa de Ortega, dated 2 March 1570 at Santa Maria Magdalena, Valladolid, Spain, during the reign of King Philip II of Spain . Other early records are found in Carrión de los Condes, Palencia . The name subsequently appears throughout Spain, especially in Castile, Andalusia and Murcia, as well as México and Latin America . </P>

Where does the last name ortega come from
find me the text answering this question