costilla

Costilla is a word with multiple uses, primarily in Spanish-speaking contexts. In Spanish, costilla means rib, deriving from the Latin costa; the diminutive suffix -illa yields a sense of “little rib.” The term also functions as a toponym in various regions influenced by Spanish language and history, reflecting how geographic features inspired place names.

In the United States, Costilla County in southern Colorado is the best-known example of the toponym, a designation tied to the area’s Spanish colonial heritage and the local landscape. The name appears in other Spanish-speaking areas as well, including towns and geographic features in Spain and Latin America, where it often alludes to ridges, boundaries, or other terrain resembling a rib.

Beyond geography, Costilla is used as a surname in Spanish-speaking communities. As with many place-based names, its adoption as a family name can be linked to ancestral ties to a particular location or landscape feature.

The term appears in cultural and historical contexts related to its literal meaning or its role as a geographical name, and it continues to be encountered in maps, regional histories, and discussions of toponymy.