Rivera is a surname of Spanish and Italian origin which was the old spelling of ribera, the Spanish word for "riverbank". Rivera is also a northern Italian variation of the mostly Sicilian surname "Ribera". Some other spellings variants of the name include (but are not limited to): Riva, Rivero, Riviere, and Riba.

Answer this question: where does the last name rivera originate from? Let's give stream of consciousness first:
This is the relevant information: Rivera is a surname of Spanish and Italian origin which was the old spelling of ribera, the Spanish word for "riverbank".
So, the final answer is Spanish and Italian.