Help find spanish surname

[Dlen Isolde]

Hi,

My father is trying to find an old friend from his past. He says the surname is pronounced Veehill. That of course is my attempt to spell it the way dad pronounced it. Dad says his friend was definitely Spanish.

My husband who is of Hispanic decent says that it does not sound like a Spanish name to him.

I've tried to come up with spellings that might work. Like Vijel since j is pronounced like an h. But that doesn't look right either.

Does anyone have any idea what the name really is?

Thank you very much for your help.  

[xehanort777]

My best guess would be 'Vigil'.  

[Spaniard The Last Angel]

From someone who can detect an accent-origin of a person just by haering them speak... Veehill... sounds middle eastern to me. That or it's European Spanish/Italian. I can definatly imagine some strong accent on that pronounciation though. Like: VehHil  

[xehanort777]

Spaniard The Last Angel

That or it's European Spanish/Italian.

The variation of spelling that I presented above is of Euro-Spanish-Italo origin. However the suggestion of middle eastern decent is very possible considering Moorish influences on Hispanic culture.  

[Spaniard The Last Angel]

xehanort777

Spaniard The Last Angel

That or it's European Spanish/Italian.

The variation of spelling that I presented above is of Euro-Spanish-Italo origin. However the suggestion of middle eastern decent is very possible considering Moorish influences on Hispanic culture.

So possbily, Andorrian. -That little country at the southern tip of Spain that NO ONE knows about.-

As xehanort777 said, the moors conqured most of Spain in the 1500's until the crusaders finally drove them out. Much of southern Spain still has many moorish influences on them, especially in architecture.  

[Dlen Isolde]

I appreciate the help.

I'm trying to use search engines to find Spanish surnames. I can't find anything that is easy to use. It's amazing how inadequate they are.

The couple I've found that let you look up list alphabetically don't have a complete list. I know because even my last name isn't among them.

It's very frustrating. Especially since I don't know the spelling nor even the correct pronunciation.