This very unusual surname is believed to be of Spanish origins and in Spanish translates as "The one with tanned features". However perhaps surprisingly it does not appear to be recorded in the Iberian records in the modern spelling. This is not however entirely surprising, as many medieval records were lost in the twenty years of the Napoleonic Wars in the Peninsular (1794-1814), and many of those that survived, then perished in the Civil War of 1935-1938. It would seem that in the earliest known recordings a "t" was usually substituted either deliberately or otherwise for the "d", this would change the meaning to the occupational "official", and it may be that this is the correct meaning. We understand that as "Curado" it was recorded in Portugal on March 17th 1777, however it was recordd as "Curido", on May 15th 1617 when Joanna Garcia Curido was christened coincidentally at Valladolid, as below. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Curato, which was dated September 28th 1587, married Maria De Perahte at Valladolid, Spain, during the reign of King Philip 11 of Spain, 1527 - 1598. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.