What is certain, is that this name only appeared during the 1250 "Inquirições" of Afonso III. This is because the area around Aveleda was under the protection of Spanish monasteries of Moreirola and San Martin de Castanheda. It was there that the celebrated "Abbott of Baçal" was parish priest (between 1896 and 1910), always travelling by foot and complying a dossier of his thoughts in Memórias Arqueológico: Históricas do Distrito de Bragança, a twelve-tome work detailing the municipal history. In this case, he referred specifically to the village of Varge (on the southern perimeter of Aveleda), which was derived from "varzena" or "varcena", a medieval term to designate artificial or natural low wetlands. The wells in this area are also referred to by the local peoples as "varja" or "varjas", literally "fish traps".