This Italian and Spanish surname of ARCHULETA is of two-fold origin. It was an occupational name for a bowman or a maker of bows, originally derived from the Italian and Spanish word ARCO, and rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form ARCUS. It was also a topographic name for someone who lived by the arch of a bridge or aqueduct. The name has numerous variant spellings which include ARCH, ARCHI, DELL'ARCO, ARCOS, DARCHE, DESARCHE, DESARGUES, ARCHETTO, ARCHETTI, ARCHINI, ARCUCCI, ARQUET, ARQUIN, ARCONE and ARCONI. In the 8th century, Spain fell under the control of the Moors, and this influence, which lasted into the 12th century, has also left its mark on Hispanic surnames. A few names are based directly on Arabic personal names. The majority of Spanish occupational and nickname surnames, however, are based on ordinary Spanish derivatives. Many of the modern family names throughout Europe reflect the profession or occupation of their forbears in the Middle Ages and derive from the position held by their ancestors in the village, noble household or religious community in which they lived and worked. The addition of their profession to their birth name made it easier to identify individual tradesmen and craftsmen. As generations passed and families moved around, so the original identifying names developed into the corrupted but simpler versions that we recognise today. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God. However much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. A notable member of the name was Joseph ARCH (l826-l9l9) the English preacher and reformer born in Barford, Warwickshire, England. Whilst still a farm labourer he became a Primitive Methodist preacher. In l872 he founded the National Agricultural Labourers Union, and later was M.P. for Northwest Norfolk, England.