<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Other names </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Variant (s) </Th> <Td> "Vera Cruz", "Santa Cruz", "De la Cruz" </Td> </Tr> <P> Cruz is a surname of Iberian origin, first found in Castile, Spain, but later spread throughout the territories of the former Spanish and Portuguese Empires . In Spanish and Portuguese, the word means "cross", either the Christian cross or the figure of transecting lines or ways . For example, in the Philippines, the adopted Tagalog word is rendered to "krus" in plain usage, but the Spanish spelling survives as a surname . </P> <P> The word "Cruz", as well as "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross") and "Santa Cruz" ("Holy Cross") are used as surnames and toponyms . Its origin as a surname particularly flourished after the Alhambra Decree of 1492 and the increasing activities of the Spanish Inquisition, when New Christian families with Crypto - Jewish, Moorish, and / or mixed religious heritage converted to the state - enforced religion of Catholicism and subsequently fashioned and adopted surnames with unambiguous religious affiliation . </P>

Where did the last name cruz come from
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