What is "mejia"

Mejia (community development block) is an administrative division in Bankura Sadar subdivision of Bankura district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Government of West Bengal has planned a Special Economic Zone in Saltora. It is on NH 60 connecting Raniganj with Midnapore via Bankura and Bishnupur. There is a bridge on the Damodar River. 1 It is 35 km from Durgapur.

Mejia, Mejía, Mexia, Mejias or Mejías may refer to:

• Mejía (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name)
• Mejía (canton), a canton in province of Pichincha, Ecuador
• Mejia (community development block), an administrative division in Bankura Sadar subdivision, Bankura district, West Bengal, India
• Mejía District, a district in the province of Islay, Arequipa, Peru; also, its capital
• Mexia, Alabama, unincorporated community in Monroe County, southern Alabama, U.S.
• Mexia, town in limestone County, central Texas, U.S.
  • Mexia High School
  • Mexia Independent School District
  • Mexia News, a newspaper published in Mexia, Texas
• Mejía, Sucre, a municipality on the Gulf of Cariaco in state of Sucre, Venezuela

Mejía(s) or Mejia(s), also written as Mehia(s), Mexia(s), Megía(s) or Media(s), is a Spanish surname. Several theories exist as to its origins and etymology. The prevailing belief is that the name has Galician origins. The surname is most common in Latin American countries, including Colombia and Mexico, and Spain.

The surname may have originated as a toponym for the town of Muxia in Galicia, an autonomous community in north-western Spain. Another idea is that the word "Mexia" used to mean "medicine" in an old variant of Spanish, and that this is where the surname came from.

One common belief is that the name may have Sephardic origins, from when the Spanish Kingdom forced Jewish settlers to change their surname to Castillian. The translation of the surname for "Messiah" would then become the name "Mesía". However, the Spanish people who travelled to the Spanish colonies in South America were not allowed to be Jewish or to have any Jewish or Muslim ancestors, and thus this explanation may not account for the popularity of the surname in modern-day Latin America.

The surname is a popular last name in Colombia, especially its Paisa region. According to the book "Genealogies of Antioquia and Caldas" by Gabriel Arango Mejía, the first Spaniard to bring the name to Colombia was a man named Don Juan Mejía de Tobar Montoya.