Hispano American naming customs
Encyclopedia
Hispano American naming customs are very similar to the two-surname personal appellation practised in Spain
. This article highlights some of the differences that are found.
Most Hispanic Americans
, such as Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado
, have one or two given names (Rafael Vicente, in the example), a paternal surname and a maternal surname. In this example the person may be referred to as Mr. Correa, or Mr. Correa Delgado, but never Mr. Delgado.
In some countries, a married woman may add the conjunction de (English: of) followed by the paternal surname of her husband after her own paternal surname. Thus, Teresa García is known as Teresa García de Madero
because she married Manuel Madero. However, in some countries doing so is increasingly frowned upon. Many Hispanic Americans even use English given names because of US influence.
is to register only the paternal surname in the birth records (or only the maternal if there is no recognised father), so the common usage is to refer to people by a single surname. There are exceptions, however. For example, Gregorio Pérez Companc
is the adopted son of Margarita Companc de Pérez, and Carlos Miguens Bemberg
is the son of the architect Carlos Miguens and the film director María Luisa Bemberg.
In 2008, President
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
proposed that the maternal surname would always be included in the registries and that it could be placed in the first place.
In Argentina, Eva Perón
(Evita) and Isabel Perón (Isabelita), the second and third wives of Juan Perón
(an ex-president), are commonly known by the Perón surname. This usage of only the marital surname, without the woman's surname nor the wife-connoting article de, is not an exceptional feature in common speech.
Although a woman may socially use the marital conjunction de, it is omitted in her legal name. For example Marta Larraechea
very often is called Marta Larraechea de Frei, but her full legal name is Marta Larraechea Bolívar. As another example, Soledad Alvear
is almost never called Soledad Alvear de Martínez; her full legal name is María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela.
En estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes....
Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros.... by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council
thus sought to change the national Venezuelan naming customs:
Popular complaint against the naming-custom-limiting Article 106 compelled the Venezuelan National Electoral Council to delete it from the Civil Registry Organic Law Project.
n nations, a wife could drop her own maternal surname while adding her husband's apellido (his paternal surname) suffixed after her (paternal) first surname with the conjunction
de (“of") — thus Ángela López Sáenz, as wife of Tomás Portillo Blanco, would become Ángela López de Portillo. In other nations doing so is frowned upon. The contemporary naming custom now practises the wife retaining her surname
. The use of the husband's surname by a wife is typically encountered in social situations where the connection to the husband is being stressed. Her full formal married-name (Ángela López Sáenz de Portillo) is the documentary convention in only some Latin American countries. Where it exists, the custom provides her with ceremonial
life and death wife-names, Ángela López, Sra. de Portillo (Ángela López, Wife of Portillo) wherein Sra. (señora, “Mrs”) connotes "wife"; and Ángela López Sáenz, vda. de Portillo (Ángela López Sáenz, Widow of Portillo), wherein vda. (viuda, “widow”) denotes widowhood.
Some names have the de conjunction without association to marriage at all. Instead they may reflect the geographical origin of the individual or that of the individual ancestors. Thus there are men named Juan Ponce de Leon
, José de Guzmán Benítez
, and Oscar de la Renta
.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. This article highlights some of the differences that are found.
Most Hispanic Americans
Hispanic America
Hispanic America or Spanish America is the region comprising the American countries inhabited by Spanish-speaking populations.These countries have significant commonalities with each other and with Spain, whose colonies they formerly were...
, such as Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado
Rafael Correa
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado born is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and was the president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007...
, have one or two given names (Rafael Vicente, in the example), a paternal surname and a maternal surname. In this example the person may be referred to as Mr. Correa, or Mr. Correa Delgado, but never Mr. Delgado.
In some countries, a married woman may add the conjunction de (English: of) followed by the paternal surname of her husband after her own paternal surname. Thus, Teresa García is known as Teresa García de Madero
Teresa García de Madero
María Teresa García de Madero is a Mexican politician affiliated with the National Action Party who served as the Mexican Ambassador to Canada....
because she married Manuel Madero. However, in some countries doing so is increasingly frowned upon. Many Hispanic Americans even use English given names because of US influence.
Argentina
Although two surnames are legally accepted, the common practice in ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
is to register only the paternal surname in the birth records (or only the maternal if there is no recognised father), so the common usage is to refer to people by a single surname. There are exceptions, however. For example, Gregorio Pérez Companc
Gregorio Pérez Companc
Gregorio Perez Companc also known as "Don Gregorio" or "Goyo," is Argentina's wealthiest individual, with an estimated net worth of US$1.4 billion dollars in 2011.- Background :He was born Jorge Gregorio Bazán in Buenos Aires, in 1934...
is the adopted son of Margarita Companc de Pérez, and Carlos Miguens Bemberg
Carlos Miguens Bemberg
Carlos Miguens Bemberg, is a successful Argentine businessman and descendant of the wealthy Bemberg family of immigrants to Argentina.-Overview:His parents were the architect Carlos Miguens and the film director María Luisa Bemberg...
is the son of the architect Carlos Miguens and the film director María Luisa Bemberg.
In 2008, President
President of Argentina
The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner , commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner is the 55th and current President of Argentina and the widow of former President Néstor Kirchner. She is Argentina's first elected female president, and the second female president ever to serve...
proposed that the maternal surname would always be included in the registries and that it could be placed in the first place.
In Argentina, Eva Perón
Eva Perón
María Eva Duarte de Perón was the second wife of President Juan Perón and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita.She was born in the village of Los Toldos in...
(Evita) and Isabel Perón (Isabelita), the second and third wives of Juan Perón
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine military officer, and politician. Perón was three times elected as President of Argentina though he only managed to serve one full term, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency...
(an ex-president), are commonly known by the Perón surname. This usage of only the marital surname, without the woman's surname nor the wife-connoting article de, is not an exceptional feature in common speech.
Chile
Instead of primer apellido (first surname) and segundo apellido (second surname), common in other countries, legally, the following expressions are used: apellido paterno (paternal surname) and apellido materno (maternal surname).Although a woman may socially use the marital conjunction de, it is omitted in her legal name. For example Marta Larraechea
Marta Larraechea
Marta Larraechea Bolívar is a social orientator, politician and wife of Chilean President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. She was a council member of the Santiago municipality and First Lady of Chile . She is of Basque descent...
very often is called Marta Larraechea de Frei, but her full legal name is Marta Larraechea Bolívar. As another example, Soledad Alvear
Soledad Alvear
María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela , is a Chilean lawyer and Christian Democrat politician, who was a cabinet member of the Aylwin, Frei and Lagos administrations. She was president of the Christian Democrat Party from 2006-2008...
is almost never called Soledad Alvear de Martínez; her full legal name is María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela.
Philippines
Although not strictly a hispanic american country, but malay-hispanic country, its study suits better here. He conventions are that someone called Alberto Mercado Goméz, Mercado would be his maternal surname and Goméz the parternal. That person would seldom being addressed as Mr Mercado, but Mr Gómez. Nevertheless some people still follow the spanish traditional surname convenctions.Venezuela
In August 2007, a draft lawEn estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes....
Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros.... by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council
National Electoral Council (Venezuela)
The National Electoral Council is one of the five independent branches of government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It is the institution that oversees and guarantees the transparency of all elections and referendums in Venezuela at the local, regional, and national levels...
thus sought to change the national Venezuelan naming customs:
Proyecto de Ley Orgánica del Registro Civil: Limitación a la inscripción de nombres Artículo 106... no permitirán que... les coloquen nombres que los expongan al ridículo; sean extravagantes o de difícil pronunciación en el idioma oficial; contengan variantes familiares y coloquiales que denoten una identificación confusa o que generen dudas sobre la determinación del sexo. En estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes.... Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros....”
Civil Registry Organic Law Project: Limitation upon the inscription of names Article 106 “...[civil registrars] will not permit... [parents] to place names [upon their children] that expose them to ridicule; that are extravagant or difficult to pronounce in the official language; that contain familiar and colloquial variants that denote a confused identification, or that generate doubts about the determination of the sex. In these cases, the registrar will offer, as reference, a listing of the most common names and surnames... The names of boys, girls, or adolescents of the country's indigenous ethnic groups and the names of foreigners' children are excepted from this disposition. . . .”
Popular complaint against the naming-custom-limiting Article 106 compelled the Venezuelan National Electoral Council to delete it from the Civil Registry Organic Law Project.
The marital conjunction "de" (of)
In some Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n nations, a wife could drop her own maternal surname while adding her husband's apellido (his paternal surname) suffixed after her (paternal) first surname with the conjunction
Grammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
de (“of") — thus Ángela López Sáenz, as wife of Tomás Portillo Blanco, would become Ángela López de Portillo. In other nations doing so is frowned upon. The contemporary naming custom now practises the wife retaining her surname
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
. The use of the husband's surname by a wife is typically encountered in social situations where the connection to the husband is being stressed. Her full formal married-name (Ángela López Sáenz de Portillo) is the documentary convention in only some Latin American countries. Where it exists, the custom provides her with ceremonial
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
life and death wife-names, Ángela López, Sra. de Portillo (Ángela López, Wife of Portillo) wherein Sra. (señora, “Mrs”) connotes "wife"; and Ángela López Sáenz, vda. de Portillo (Ángela López Sáenz, Widow of Portillo), wherein vda. (viuda, “widow”) denotes widowhood.
Some names have the de conjunction without association to marriage at all. Instead they may reflect the geographical origin of the individual or that of the individual ancestors. Thus there are men named Juan Ponce de Leon
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named...
, José de Guzmán Benítez
José de Guzmán Benítez
José de Guzmán Benítez was Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1901.José de Guzmán Benítez is best known from the caricature preserved of his 1900 election win. The election was significant in that it was the first election since the United States invaded the Island in 1898.-See also:* Ponce, Puerto...
, and Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta
Oscar de la Renta is one of the world's leading fashion designers. He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1973.-Career:...
.