- Some Theory
- Introduction
- Mixed first names
- Nicknames
- Compound first names
- Compound surnames
- Advanced stuff
- the -ez suffix
- accents
- Some Examples
- An Extreme Case
- Conclusions
- Disadvantages
- Advantages
Introduction
You may wonder why people from Spanish speaking countries have such longnames. This is because we have usually two family names (surnames), whennot more.
Following an ancient tradition, when a child is born, he/she receives thefirst surname from the father and the second surname is the first surnameof the mother. In Portuguese speaking countries also use two family names,but for them the mother's surname comes first. In my opinion this is betterbecause you know for certain who the mother is, but in some cases one maynot be so sure about the father.
e.g. Juan Martínez Escudero + Marta VillanuevaCortés => Juan Martínez Villanueva
This way when a woman marries a man, she never losses her maiden surname,and her family name is carried by her descendents (although just for onegeneration). As you see, Spain has always been regarded as a country ruledby machos, but we respect more the women's dignity in this sense.
You may think this was simple, ...
Compound Surnames
Well, things can get more complicated. People sometimes merge their familynames, creating compound names. This can be done for several reasons:
- the don't want to lose the family name of the mother in the next generation,
- they belong or pretend to belong to the aristocracy,
- or they have family names that are very common (like López, Fernández, García, ...) and they want to distinguish themselves from the masses.
e.g. Francisco García Carrión marries Ana Martínez Botella and he is proud of her mother's family name, so he decides to change hisfirst family name to García-Carrión so that his son is called Pedro García-Carrión Martínez
Another source of multiple-word surnames is the use of prepositions andconjunctions. If your surname is the name of a common thing, the name ofa place, a first name, or simply you are old fashioned, then you add a de (of), which is similar to the German von or the Dutch van.
e.g. Bosque[forest] becomes del Bosque, Peña [rock] is de la Peña, Viña [vine] is de la Viña, ...
Until the 60's the Spanish census and other official registers used the and conjunction (y) to separate the first and second surnames. This was useful when therewere compound surnames and one can not tell where does the second surnamebegin. Nowadays a slash (-) is used to group the members of a compound surname.
e.g. this example has all the attributes described before.
| Alejandro | Rodríguez de la Peña | y | de Ybarra |
| Chistian Name | First Surname | Second Surname |
Do you think that this was simple?
Compound First Names
Well, then you must consider that in most region, specially in Latin America,people like to give their children several first (Christian) names, usuallytwo or three, so that they are protected by the greatest number of Saints*. Traditionally one of the names had to be the Saint of the Birthday.
This specially true for women. Up to my generation, most women have thename María. This is why most women use the other first name or a nickname. Usuallythe second name is abstract because it specifies the name of a Madonna,like Esperanza [hope], Concepción [conception], Dolores [pain], Encarnación [incarnation],
e.g. names like, María de las Mercedes, María José, Carlos Alberto, Juan Carlos, etc. are very common.
Do you still think that this is simple?
Mixed First Names
Well, in order to maximize the divine protection* some people have both a male and a female name. The first name will tellyou the sex of the person.
So if you meet someone that is called José María, don't call him María because he is male. The same way, if you know someone called María José, don't call her José, because she will become angry with you. Usually only the names of María and José are borrowed from the opposite sex.
* Nowadays most people do not chose the names of their children because ofthis divine protection, but for aesthetic reasons or to honor an antecesor.
Was this all?
Nicknames
Well, as names are very long, people use nicknames (pretty much like Lizisto Elisabeth, Bob is to Robert or Bill is to William). This is only usedby the family and friends, so don't use this if you are trying to make businesswith her/him or if he's the president of a State.
e.g. Some common nicknames are:
| MALE | Pepe | -> | José | |
| Manolo | -> | Manuel | ||
| Paco | -> | Francisco | ||
| Chema | -> | José María | ||
| FEMALE | Concha | -> | María Concepción | |
| Maribel | -> | María Isabel | ||
| Marisa | -> | María Luisa | ||
| Lola | -> | María de los Dolores | ||
| Encarna | -> | María Encarnación |
Advanced stuff
If your curiosity hasn't been satisfied yet, then read this section.
the -ez suffix
It is suprising the number of Spanish surnames end in ez. This is because it means "son of", like the suffix -son and -sen in many German and Scandinavian languages. In Portuguese the -ez becomes a -es.
e.g. Fernández is the son of Fernando [Ferdinan]
Martínez is the son of Martín [Martin]
Rodríguez is the son of Rodrigo [Rodrico]
Notice that someone called Pérez does not have to be the son of Pere [Pedro= Peter], it only means that one of her/his antecesors happened to be calledPedro (who probably was a knight in the mediaval ages)
accents
Suprisingly almost all surnames that end in -ez have an accent (called tilde in Spanish). This is because Spanish, unlike English completely specifieshow a word should be pronounced. The accent is written when the a syllbleother than the standard one should be stressed, so accents are rare butcompulsory.
You may have seen that many Latinos/Chicanos in the USA don't write theaccents on their surnames, this is because they have Anglicized their surnames,or someone has done it for you (perhaps a computer)
My Case
My complete name is Pablo Molinero Fernández, Molinero is my father's firstsurname and Fernández is my mother's first surname. If I want to use a shorterform I use Pablo Molinero. I only use Pablo Fernández when I want to fool the IRS (just kidding).
An Extreme Case
If you followed all the explainations until now you wouldn's be surprisedthat someone told you that his name was
Carlos María Eduardo García de la Cal Fernández Leal Luna Delgado GalvánSanz
who is just considering all the names up to the second generation:
| Fernando García Luna | Luis Eduardo García Fernández Luna Galván | Carlos María Eduardo García de la Cal Fernández Leal Luna Delgado Galván Sanz | |
| María Bernarda Fernández Galván | |||
| Marco Antonio de la Cal Delgado | Cecilia de la Cal Leal Delgado Sanz | ||
| María de la Concepción Leal Sanz |
You can see that the number of surnames augments exponentially with thenumber of generations that are considered.
In any case you sould not worry of seeing a name as long as this, unlesssomeone is trying to pull your leg (like me).
Disadvantages
- The main disadvantage is that you have to write more than other people whenfilling up official forms.
- Another disadvantage is that people get confused whenever you go to a non-Spanishspeaking country and then you have to write HTML pages like this one.
Advantages
- Privacy,
- There is no need to use Jr., Sr., III (and so on) whenever the same first (Christian) name is used by different generationsof the same family. My father is also called Pablo and he never reads mymail, because his second surname is different than mine.
- Also by no giving away your second family name you can protect your privacy.
- Distinction/Indexing
- One of the main advantages is that you have more chances to find your friend'stelephone number in the phone book.
- Easier for women
- Women don't need to change their family names along their lives (this must be painful, specially for the ones that get married several times).
- They also know that their children will bear her family name.
)Last modified: Sun Apr 21 16:39:24 1996
FAQs
How do family names work in Spain? ›
Spaniards have a personal name(s) followed by two surnames – the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name. For example: Hector Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ. People may have two personal names (e.g. Hector Marίa). The second personal name does not always reflect the gender of the person.
What are Spanish royal last names? ›What is the Spanish Royal Family's last name? The Spanish Royal Family's last name is Borbón.
Why do Spanish people have 3 last names? ›Once you become Spanish, you will be issued with a DNI. As Spaniards must have two surnames, you will have to come up with an extra surname. Many foreigners choose their middle name as first surname or use their mother's maiden name as second surname.
What is the rarest Mexican last name? ›According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), the rarest surname that exists in Mexico is nothing more and nothing less than Zugasti. This surname is only carried by 20 people in the entire national territory, which has Basque origin and means a grove of elm trees.
What is a Hispanic last name? ›Origins and Meanings of 45 Common Hispanic Last Names
GARCIA. MARTINEZ. RODRIGUEZ. LOPEZ. HERNANDEZ.
The two surnames refer to each of the parental families. Traditionally, a person's first surname is the father's first surname (apellido paterno), while their second surname is the mother's first surname (apellido materno).
What are upper class Spanish names? ›So there is no need to use “1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc” to differentiate father from son or from grandpa. The name that most people in Spain would associate with upper class is Cayetana, but there are more, some if them might be Leonor, Rosario, Macarena, Concepción, Almudena, Cristina, Rocío, Pilar, María del Pilar.
Do all Mexicans have 2 last names? ›Mexicans have a personal name(s) followed by two surnames – the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name. For example: Hector Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ.
What are the oldest families in Spain? ›They're blessed with good genetics. A family in Spain set a Guinness World Record for highest combined age of 12 living siblings at 1,058 years and 249 days. The Hernandez-Perez offspring — made up of seven brothers and five sisters — range in age from 76 to 97.
What are the regal names in Spain? ›The Spanish royal family consists of King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, their children (Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía of Spain), and Felipe's parents, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía.
What Hispanic last names mean wolf? ›
Lupo is a surname of Italian origin, meaning "wolf", which is derived from the Latin lupus. Its Spanish equivalent is López, its Portuguese equivalent is Lopes, its French equivalent is Loup, and its Romanian equivalent is Lupu or Lupescu.
Why do Mexican last names end in EZ? ›the -ez suffix
It is suprising the number of Spanish surnames end in ez. This is because it means "son of", like the suffix -son and -sen in many German and Scandinavian languages. In Portuguese the -ez becomes a -es.
Spanish surnames are often impressively long. That is because a child is given the surnames of both parents at birth. The first surname is that of the father, the second of the mother.
What is the most common Spain last name? ›The most common Spanish surnames
The most common surname in Spain is García. This is followed by Martínez, Fernández, and Rodríguez… As you may have noticed, many Spanish surnames end in -ez.
Indigenous peoples of Mexico (Spanish: gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans (Spanish: nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans (Spanish: pueblos originarios de México, lit.
What are common American Hispanic names? ›Other traditional Spanish names popular in the Hispanic-American community include Carlos, Enrique, Fernando, Francisco, Jaime, Javier, Jorge, Jose, Juan, Julio, Luis, Marcos, and Miguel for boys and Adriana, Beatriz, Carolina, Daniela, Gabriela, Isabel, and Maria for girls.
What Mexican last name means love? ›28. Amor. It comes from the Latin word 'Amor' meaning 'Love.
What are the top 5 last names? ›A study published by ancestry.com found that Smith was by far the most common surname in the United States, followed by Johnson, Miller, Jones, Williams, and Anderson. However there is huge variation in the most frequent last names in different states.
What last names do Mexican kids get? ›The tradition in Latin America is to give babies two last names — the father's surname, followed by the mother's paternal surname. So baby Bárbara, born to José González de Diego and Alicia Vera Zboralska would normally have been named Bárbara González Vera, losing both parents' maternal surnames.
How are last names determined in Spain? ›In Spain and Spanish American countries, except Argentina, each person has two surnames. Traditionally, the first surname is paternal and comes from the father, while the second surname is maternal and comes from the mother.
Do Spanish people have 3 last names? ›
In Spanish cultures, people traditionally have 2 surnames. The first is the paternal surname (apellido paterno), the father's first surname, and the second is the maternal surname (apellido materno), the mother's first surname.
How do Spanish last names work when you get married? ›Marriage. In Spain, upon marrying, one does not change one's surname. In some instances, such as high society meetings, the partner's surname can be added after the person's surnames using the preposition de (of).
Why do Spanish have two last names? ›Within the Hispanic tradition, the woman does not change her surnames when she gets married. Instead, the combination of our parents' first surnames represents the unity of two families and the formation of a new one. Hence, both surnames carry great value for many Hispanics.
Why are Hispanic last names so long? ›Spanish surnames are often impressively long. That is because a child is given the surnames of both parents at birth. The first surname is that of the father, the second of the mother. In principle, then, children never have exactly the same surnames as their parents.
Do Spanish wives take their husband's last name? ›Spanish women do not change their name when they marry, and offspring are given the first surname of both their parents – regardless of whether their parents are married or not.
Why do Mexicans have 4 names? ›Mexicans have a personal name(s) followed by two surnames – the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name. For example: Hector Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ.
What is a common Cuban last name? ›List of the most common surnames in Cuba: Rodríguez – 301, 136. Pérez – 300,189. González – 262,311.
Which Spanish last name goes first? ›In Spain and Spanish American countries, except Argentina, each person has two surnames. Traditionally, the first surname is paternal and comes from the father, while the second surname is maternal and comes from the mother.
Why do Mexicans have 2 first names? ›Mexicans are given two first names for a variety of reasons that range from religious to cultural and family reasons. However, when it comes to the last names, there is a traditional system for passing down a surname, or “apellido.”
Which last name goes first wedding? ›First things first, whose name goes first:
Traditionally, the bride always precedes the groom. For a formal invite, we would always suggest the bride to be referred to by her first and middle names.