Zayas

Zayas is an old Castilian noble family, that has its ancestral seat in a place called Zaya in the province of Soria, from where the family took its name.

[1] The novelist María de Zayas belonged to this family.

Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso, a lawyer, poet and politician, served as President of Cuba from 1921 to 1925.

He was the son of Dr. José María de Zayas y Jiménez (1824–1887), a noted lawyer and educator, and had two brothers: Dr. Juan Bruno de Zayas y Alfonso (1867–1896), a medical doctor and revolutionary hero who died in the war for Cuba's independence, and Dr. Francisco de Zayas y Alfonso (1857–1924), Cuba's long-time Minister to Paris and Brussels.

The American legal scholar, historian and UN official Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is a descendant of Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso.