I found this on a website while "google-searching" the surname Cardoza:
Cardoza Origins:
Genealogists incorrectly assume that 'Cardoza' means 'one from the place of thorns,' from the Latin. However, 'card = thorns' came into the Latin from the Basques, who called the thorn-wrapped gates on the wooden forts of early Italian tribes 'guardians.' 'Za' is Basque for 'children of.' Thus, the name 'Cardoza' actually means 'children of the watcher or guardian.' Basque people gave names to their houses (etche), and everyone living in a particular house took on the house name as their own. 'Cardoza' was originally something like 'Etchecardae.' The Basque word also was used more accurately in the Latin 'cardo,' a door hinge, and by extension, 'Cardea,' the Goddess of Doorways, whose power was to "open what is shut and shut what is open."
The early Basques lived in high mountain valleys of the Pyrenees Mountains of northern Spain and southern France (the 'hidden Valley of the Moon'), and those living in the house at the entrance to the valley had the duty to watch for the approach of strangers and warn the others.
BA DATORRELA DIO -- 'He tells who is coming.'
Cardoza Coat of Arms: So far, I know of two coats of arms for the Cardoza's. The oldest shows two gold greyhounds, rampant, sinister (facing left) on a silver shield. This Cardoza coat of arms was granted by King Alphonso VII, when a band of Basques helped Alphonso's Christian Templars to defeat the Moors at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 AD. Alphonso created the kingdom of Castille from the three Basque-speaking provinces freed in the battle, and the Cardoza's adopted for their coat of arms the motto taken by Castille: 'Iru-Rac-Bat' (We are Three-But-One).
ZILHAR HITZAK,ZURHUR HITZAK -- (Old words are wise words)
The second Cardoza coat of arms, showing five gold coins surmounted by three tobacco leaves and a native American on top, apparently refers to some action in the New World (America).
