Vargas is a Spanish surname of Castilian origin.

The founder of the house was Iván de Martin who fought as a knight in the reconquest of Madrid, in 1083, in the service of Alfonso VI of León and Castile.

[citation needed] The surname is also a Sephardic Jewish surname with the family Vargas emanating from the once existing Jewish community of Cantabria, Spain.

[1] Descendants of this family now live across Spain and Latin America.

As of 2014, 22.2% of all known bearers of the surname Vargas were residents of Mexico.