The short form of the Spanish last name
De la Vega or "Of the plain/meadow". Anyone who has the last name Vega by blood is related to others who have that last name by blood, though the name has gained variety over the centuries such as "La Vega", "Vegas", or just "Vega". The House of De la Vega is a house of
nobility existing in Spain from the
Castile region, and has been around ever since the first Spanish kingdoms before their
unification into the nation of Spain. Being of prestigious nobility, the Vega house was also involved in some coup attempts to
claim the throne and rule over much of Spain. Being staunch Christians and loyal to the Catholic Church, some of the Vega house traveled west to the New World and started the many families in North America that bear the name of Vega, however again, anyone living in North America who has the Vega last name from their parents is related to other Vegas, with a common ancestor probably living three or four hundred years ago, from the time of immigration.
The Vegas, also being of an old noble house, never had to pay taxes, and still don't even in Spain today. There are roughly 110,000 Vegas in the world. Also some gaming company that made SF 2 had a character in it named "Vega", and this is where most morons tend to associate the name "Vega" from. Some travelers on the way to California long ago passed through an oasis in Nevada, and they named it "Las Vegas", meaning "
The meadow(s)", because of it being an oasis in the desert.
Example:
1. I despise America constantly taxing me, but since I speak Spanish as a second language and I'm very rich, and my last name is
De la Vega, I'm going to get Spanish citizenship and request the King grant me a title of
nobility, so I don't have to pay ridiculous income taxes anymore.
2. First idiot: "OH MAN your last name is Vega?! Vega was so badass in Street Fighter 2!!"
Vega: (facepalm) "I'm surrounded by morons."
3. First: "My last name is 'Smith'; sounds cool, huh?"
Second: "Your ancestors were likely craftsmen or peasants."
First: "Oh yeah, what were yours then huh dickhead? Vega doesn't sound like anything important."
Second: "My family bloodline is of Spanish
aristocracy going back over one thousand years, and if I were born in Medieval times, I'd be a knight, and you'd be a peasant."