Ayala (surname)

Ayala (Basque: Aiara) is a toponymic surname, originally de Ayala (of Ayala), deriving from the town of Ayala/Aiara in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.

Ayala
Etymology	Ayala/Aiara
Place of origin	Spain

It is linguistically unrelated to the Hebrew female given name Ayala, which is of Biblical origin.

Arts and entertainment

• Alexis Ayala (born 1965), American-born Mexican actor
• Cristina Ayala (1856–1936), pen name of Cuban poet Maria Cristina Fragas
• Francisco Ayala (novelist) (1906–2009), novelist
• Isidro Más de Ayala (1899-1960), Uruguayan psychiatrist and author
• Joey Ayala (born 1956), Filipino musician
• Josefa de Ayala (c. 1630 – 1684), Spanish-born Portuguese painter
• Pedro Ayala (1911–1990), American accordionist
• Ramon Ayala (accordion player) (born 1928), Mexican accordion player
• Ramón Ayala (Argentine musician) (1927–2023), Argentine singer and poet
• Ramón Ayala Rodríguez (born 1976), Puerto Rican musician known as Daddy Yankee
• Thaila Ayala (born 1986), Brazilian actress and model
• Vanessa Ayala, Colombian-American artist
• Violeta Ayala (born 1978), filmmaker and writer
• Ricardo Ayala (born 2001), American-born Salvadoran Sports Broadcaster

Politics

• Eligio Ayala (1879–1930), President of Paraguay 1923–1924
• Eusebio Ayala (1875–1942), President of Paraguay 1921–1923
• Inés Ayala (born 1957), Spanish politician
• Paulina Ayala (born 1962), Canadian politician
• Ruben Ayala (1922–2012), American politician; California state senator

Sports

• Bobby Ayala (born 1969), Major League pitcher
• Celso Ayala (born 1970), Paraguayan soccer player
• Daniel Sánchez Ayala (born 1990), Spanish soccer player
• Diego Ayala (footballer) (born 1990), Paraguayan footballer
• Diego Ayala (tennis) (born 1979), American tennis player
• Eric Ayala (born 1999), Puerto Rican basketball player
• Hercules Ayala (1950–2020), Puerto Rican wrestler
• Josué Ayala (born 1988), Argentine footballer
• Lucas Ayala (born 1978), Argentine footballer
• Luis Ayala (baseball) (born 1978), American-Mexican baseball pitcher
• Luis Ayala (tennis) (born 1932), Chilean professional tennis player
• Paulie Ayala (born 1970), Mexican-American former boxer
• Ramón Ayala (judoka), (born 1979) Puerto Rican judoka
• Roberto Ayala (born 1973), Argentine international footballer
• Rubén Ayala (born 1950), Argentine retired footballer
• Tony Ayala Jr. (1963–2015), former middleweight boxer

Other

• Aramis Ayala (born 1975), American attorney
• Carlos Ayala Vargas (born 1980), leader of the Spanish Pirate Party
• Francisco J. Ayala (1934–2023), Spanish-American biologist and philosopher

See also

• De Ayala, another surname
• Ayala (disambiguation)