Recorded as de la Pena, de Pena, de Pina, de Pinna, Pena, Penna, Pina, Pinna (Spanish and Portugese) Penni, Lapeena (Italian), Sapena (Provencal), diminutives Pinilla (Spanish) Pennella, Pennelli, Penniello, Pennetta, Pennone, Pennacci (Italian), and many others, this is a surname of Iberian origins. It derives from the pre 6th century Roman (Latin) words penna or pinna, or the later Spanish pena meaning a pinnacle, crag, cliff, large jutting rock or even a battlement. As such it describes somebody who comes from such a place or from one of the many villages named Pena, Penna or Pinna of which there are many examples. Locational surnames were usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they had left their original homes to move somewhere else and henceforth were socalled as an easy form of identification. The preposition de can indicate land or estate ownership, although it was also used to describe where a person came from. Early examples of surname recordings taken from surviving church registers include Leonora de la Pina of Santa Cruz, Tenerrife, in 1554, the actual date is not given, and Manuel de la Pena, at the church of St Maria Magdalena, Valladolid, Spain, on May 12th 1647.