I just saw a thread in the Happy Days forum where they talked about some of the unusual last names on the show and how they came up with them. The Facts of Life was the opposite way in that the writers were not very inventive in creating characters last names. The only unique last name was Jo's Polniaczek. You don't see that name in the real world (though that name looks more Czech than Polish).

The Facts of Life had your common Angelo-Saxon last names. How many times did they overuse the name "Parker"? Have some imagination, guys and gals.

Yes, Weaver, Webster, Warner, Olsen, Bradley, Ramsey, Green, Tyler, and Parker are pretty common Anglo-Saxon names. At least Mahoney was Irish... of course, it was still very common.

Affinado was perhaps the first surname, after Polniaczek, that might be considered uncommon, and we've already talked about why Kelly was modeled on Jo; it makes sense they would invent an unusual surname for Kelly as well.

It wasn't just last names that were overused. The first names Emily and Steven were extensively used, with at least eight characters having those names. I don't even know why you would do this, as, for example, the characters of Steven Bradley and Steve the delivery boy appeared in the same episodes. WHY DO THIS?!

AFFINADO sounds Italian or Spanish to me indeed! (she even looks so lol!)

I'm pretty sure it is Italian!

I have never met Italian people with the surname Affinado. More Spanish to me