Iberian naming customs
Encyclopedia
Spanish naming customs denotes the personal appellation practiced in Spain
, consisting of a given name
(simple or composite) followed by two family name
s (surname
s). The first surname was traditionally the father's first surname, and the second the mother's first surname. This order may now be reversed, under gender equality
law.
In most situations, the practice is to use one given name and the first surname only, the full name being used in legal, formal, and documentary matters. For differences in Hispanic America
n usages, see Hispanic American naming customs.
(nombre) and two surnames
(apellidos). A composite given name comprises two (not more) single names; Juan Pablo is considered not to be a first and a second forename, but a single composite forename. Traditionally, a person's first surname is the father's first surname (apellido paterno), and the second one is the mother's first surname (apellido materno). However, gender equality
law has allowed surname transposition since 1999, subject to the condition that every sibling must bear the same surname order recorded in the Registro Civil (civil registry
), but there have been legal exceptions. From 2013, if the parents of a child are unable to agree on order of surnames, an official decides which is to come first.
For example, if a man named Fernando García Pons marries a woman named Paula Rodríguez Pérez and has a child named Salvador, there are several legal options, but their child would most usually be known as Salvador García Rodríguez.
Each surname can also be composite, the parts usually linked by the preposition de (of) or by a hyphen. For example, a person's name might be Juan Pablo Fernández de Calderón García-Iglesias, consisting of a forename (Juan Pablo), a paternal surname (Fernández de Calderón) and a maternal surname (García-Iglesias).
In other instances, someone may be referred to primarily by their maternal surname. For example, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
(elected for terms as Prime Minister of Spain in the 2004 and 2008 general elections) is often called simply Zapatero, the name he inherited from his mother's family, since Rodríguez is a common surname and may be ambiguous.
Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez
is sometimes referred to in English media as Mr. Márquez, but he is actually Mr. García Márquez or, simply, Mr. García.
In an English-speaking environment, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphen
ate their surnames to avoid Anglophone confusion, thus: Mr. José Antonio Gómez-Iglesias.
, which must be recorded in the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) to establish his or her legal identity. With few restrictions, parents can now choose any name; common sources of names are the parents' taste, honouring a relative, the Roman Catholic calendar of saints
nomina (nominal register), and traditional Spanish names. Legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian
(Jesus, Mary, saints) and typical Spanish names (Antonio, Laura, et al.). Although the first part of a composite forename generally reflects the gender of the child, the second personal name need not (e.g.José María Aznar
). At present, the only naming limitation is the dignity of the child, who cannot be given an insulting name. Similar limitations applied against diminutive, familiar, and colloquial variants not recognized as names proper, and "those that lead to confusion regarding sex";
however, current law allows registration of diminutive names.
. Hence, women with Marian
names such as María de los Ángeles (Mary of the Angels), María del Pilar (Mary of the Pillar), and María de la Luz (Mary of the Light), are normally addressed as Ángeles (Angels), Pilar (Pillar), and Luz (Light); however, each might be addressed as María. Also, parents can simply name a girl "María", or "Mari". Nicknames such as Maricarmen for María del Carmen, Marisol for "María (de la) Soledad" ("Our Lady of Solitude", the Virgin Mary), etc. are often used.
It is not unusual for a man's formal name to include María, preceded by a masculine name, e.g. José María Aznar
(Joseph Mary Aznar). Equivalently, a girl can be formally named María José (Mary Joseph), and informally named Marijose, Mariajo, Majo, Josefa, Josefina, Fina, Pepa, Pepi, Pepita, Marisé or even José in honor of St. Joseph. María as a masculine name is often abbreviated in writing as M. (José M. Aznar), Ma. (José Ma. Aznar), or Mª (José Mª Morelos). It is unusual for any other names than the religiously significant María and José to be used in this way.
; however, a child can be religiously baptized
with several forenames, e.g. Felipe Juan Froilán de Todos los Santos
. This is usually a royal
and noble
family practice, and has no legal significance.
In chapter V, part 2 of Don Quixote (1605, 1615), Teresa Panza reminds her husband Sancho that, properly, she should be addressed as Teresa Cascajo, by her surname, not her marital surname: “Teresa I was named in baptism, a clean and short name, without addings or embellishments, or furnishings of don
s and dans; ‘Cascajo’ was my father; and I, as your wife, am called ‘Teresa Panza’, but laws are executed”.
Rarely, the husband's surname can be added after the woman's surnames using the particle "de". Leocadia Blanco Álvarez, married to Pedro Pérez Montilla, can be addressed as Leocadia Blanco de Pérez or as Leocadia Blanco Álvarez de Pérez . This format is not used in everyday settings and has no legal value; it is used rarely and only in situations where the relationship to the husband is being stressed.
. Contemporary law allows the maternal surname to be given precedence, but most people observe the traditional paternal–maternal surname order. So the daughter and son of Ángela López Sáenz and Tomás Portillo Blanco are usually called Laura Portillo López and Pedro Portillo López, but also could be called Laura López Portillo and Pedro López Portillo. Regardless of the surname order, all children's surnames must be in the same order when recorded in the Registro Civil.
Patrilineal surname transmission was not always the norm
in Spanish speaking societies. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, when the current paternal-maternal surname combination norm came into existence, Hispanophone societies often practised matrilineal surname transmission, giving children the maternal surname, and, occasionally, giving children a grandparent's surname (borne by neither parent) for prestige — being perceived as gentry
— and profit, flattering the matriarch
or the patriarch
in hope of inheriting
land. As with Catalan names, the Spanish naming customs include the orthographic
option of conjoining the surnames with the conjunction
particle y (meaning "and"), e.g. José Ortega y Gasset, or Tomás Portillo y Blanco, following an antiquated aristocratic
usage.
Not every surname is a single word; such conjoining usage is common with doubled surnames (maternal-paternal), ancestral composite surnames willed
to the following generations — especially when the paternal surname is socially undistinguished. José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro
is an example, his name comprising a composite (two-word) single name, José María, and two composite surnames Álvarez del Manzano and López del Hierro. Other examples derive from church place-names such as San José. When a person bears doubled surnames, the means of disambiguation is to insert y between the paternal and maternal surnames.
In case of illegitimacy
— when the child's father either is unknown or refuses to legally recognise his son or daughter — the child bears both of the mother's surnames.
Occasionally, a person with a common paternal surname and an uncommon maternal surname becomes widely known by the maternal surname. The artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso, the poet Federico García Lorca
, and the politician José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
are examples. With similar effect, the foreign paternal surname of the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Hughes Galeano
(his father was British) is usually omitted. (As a boy, however, he occasionally signed his name as Eduardo Gius, using a hispanized approximation of the English pronunciation of "Hughes".) Such use of the second last name by itself is colloquial, however, and may not be applied in legal contexts.
; thus the Romance patronymic and the place-name are conjoined with the prepositional particle de ("from", "provenance"), thus in the name José Ignacio López de Arriortúa, the composite surname López de Arriortúa is a simple surname, despite Arriortúa being the original family-name. This is a possibly confusing usage because the Spanish López and the Basque de Arriortúa are discrete surnames in the Basque and Romance cultures.
particle de (“of”) is used as a conjunction
in two surname spelling styles, and to disambiguate a surname. The first style is in patronymic and toponymic
spelling formulæ, e.g. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
, Pero López de Ayala
, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa
, as in many conquistador names.
Unlike in French, the Spanish spellings of surnames containing the prepositional particle de are ambiguous without a preceding patronymic, an orthographic
style common to noble surnames, thus, the lower-case spellings de la Rúa (“of the street") and de la Torre (“of the tower”) and the upper-case spellings De la Rúa and De la Torre are equally correct.
Without a patronymic:Juan Carlos de Borbón
. Unlike in French, Spanish orthography does not require a contraction when a vowel begins the surname, but de el (“of the”) becomes del, e.g. Carlos Arturo del Monte (Charles Arthur of the Mountain).
The patronymic exception:The current (1958) Spanish name law, Artículo 195 del Reglamento del Registro Civil (Article 195 of the Civil Registry Regulations) disallows a person’s prefixing the de particle to his or her surname — the exception is the clarifying addition of de to a surname (apellido) that might be misunderstood as a name (nombre); thus, a child would be registered as Pedro de Miguel Jiménez, to avoid the surname Miguel being mistaken as the second part of a composite name, as Pedro Miguel.
Bearing the de particle does not necessarily denote a noble family, especially in Castile
and Alava
, the de usually applied to the place-name (town or village) from which the person and his or her ancestors originated; however, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the usage of de spread as a way of denoting the bearer’s noble heritage to avoid the misperception that he or she is either a Jew or a Moor. In that time, many people, regardless of their true origins, claimed the right to use the particle, e.g. Miguel de Cervantes
, Lope de Vega
, et al.; moreover, following that fashion, high nobles, such as Francisco Sandoval Rojas, called himself Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas. During the eighteenth century, the Spanish nobility fully embraced the French custom of using de as a nobility identifier, however, commoners also bore the de particle, which made the de usages unclear; thus, nobility was emphasised with the surname’s lineage.
y (“and”) to distinguish a person’s surnames; thus the Andalusian Baroque writer Luis de Góngora y Argote
(1561–1627), the Aragonese painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
(1746–1828), the Andalusian artist Pablo Diego Ruiz y Picasso (1881–1973), and the Madrilenian liberal philosopher José Ortega y Gasset
(1883–1955). In Hispanic America, this spelling convention was common to clergymen (e.g. Salvadoran Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), and sanctioned by the Ley de Registro Civil (Civil Registry Law) of 1870, requiring birth certificates indicating the paternal and maternal surnames conjoined with y — thus, Felipe González y Márquez and José María Aznar y López are the respective true names of the Spanish politicians Felipe González Márquez
and José María Aznar López
; however, unlike in Catalan
, the Spanish usage is infrequent.
The conjunction y avoids denominational confusion when the paternal surname might appear to be a (first) name; hence the physiologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal
might appear to be named Santiago Ramón (composite) and surnamed Cajal, like-wise the jurist Francisco Tomás y Valiente, and the cleric Vicente Enrique y Tarancón. Without the conjunction, the footballer
Rafael Martín Vázquez
, known as Martín Vázquez (his surnames) mistakenly appears to be named Martín rather than Rafael, whilst, to his annoyance, the linguist Fernando Lázaro Carreter
occasionally was addressed as Don Lázaro, rather than as Don Fernando.
Moreover, when the maternal surname begins with an i vowel sound, written with either the vowel I (Ibarra), the vowel Y (Ybarra archaic spelling) or the combination Hi + consonant (Higueras), Spanish euphony
substitutes the softer-sounded conjunction e in place of the sharper-sounded conjunction y, thus the examples of the Spanish statesman Eduardo Dato e Iradier
(1856–1921).
, Spanish naming customs provide orthographic
means, such as suffix-letter abbreviations, surname
spellings, and place names, which denote and connote the person’s place in society
.
–ez: Spanish surnames ending in -ez originated as patronymics denoting "the son of"—Fernández (son of Fernando), González (son of Gonzalo)—yet not every such surname is patronymic, because in many Spanish dialects the Spanish-language letters z and s are pronounced alike, leading to the same word being spelt with either "s" or "z". In Hispano-American Spanish
, the -ez spellings of Chávez, Cortez (Alberto Cortez
) and Valdez are not patronymic surnames, because they are variant spellings of the Iberian
Spanish spelling with -es, as in the names of Manuel Chaves González
, Hernán Cortés
and Javier Valdés. For more on the -z surnames in Spanish see Influences on the Spanish language
.
were a naming problem for civil registrars, but such anonymous children were often named toponymically
, after the town where they were found. Because most foundlings were reared in church orphanages, they were often given the surnames Iglesia or Iglesias (church[es]) and Cruz (cross). Blanco (connoting "blank" here, rather then the more usual "white") was another option. A toponymical first surname might be followed as second surname by Iglesia or Cruz.
Foundlings often were surname
d Expósito (Lat. exposĭtus, "exposed", connoting "foundling"), which marked them, and their descendants, as of low caste
and social class
, people without social pedigree. In the Catalan language
the surname Deulofeu ("made by God") was often given to foundlings. In 1921 Spanish law allowed the surname Expósito to be changed without charge.
, they are legally obliged to assume Spanish-style names (a name and two surnames). If the naturalised
person is from a one-surname culture, the actual surname is duplicated; therefore, the English name “George Albert Duran” becomes the Spanish name “George Albert Durán Durán”, yet the law optionally allows him to adopt his mother's maiden name (her surname), as his maternal (second) surname. Formally, Spanish naming customs conflate his name “George” and his middle-name “Albert” to the composite name “George Albert”, and his sole surname, “Duran”, is duplicated as his paternal and maternal surnames.
artists seldom used their proper names. According to the guitarist Juan Serrano
, this was because Flamenco was considered disreputable and they did not want to embarrass their families: 'We have to start with the history of the gypsies in Spain. They gained a bad reputation because of the minor crimes they had to commit to survive. They did not have any kind of jobs, they had to do something to live, and of course this created hostility. And Flamenco was the music of the Gypsies, so many high society people did not accept it — they said Flamenco was in the hands of criminals, bandits, et cetera. And the girls, that maybe liked dancing or singing, their parents said “Oh no, you want to be a prostitute!”.'
This tradition has persisted to the present day, even though Flamenco is now legitimate. Sometimes the artistic name consists of the home town appended to the first name (Manolo Sanlúcar
, Ramón de Algeciras); but many, perhaps most, of such names are more eccentric: Pepe de la Matrona (because his mother was a midwife); Perico del Lunar (because he had a mole); Tomatito
(son of a father known as Tomate because of his red face); Sabicas
(because of his childhood passion for green beans, from niño del las habicas); and many more.
, affectionate "child-talk
" forms using a diminutive
suffix, especially -ito and -cito (masculine) and -ita and -cita (feminine). Sometimes longer than the person’s name, a nickname
usually derives via linguistic
rules. The usages vary by country and region; these are some usual names and their nicknames:
— Catalan
, Basque
, and Galician
— legally allowed the autonomous communities to re-establish their vernacular social identity
, including the legal use of personal names in the local languages and written traditions — banned since 1938 — sometimes via the re-spelling of names from Castilian Spanish to their original languages.
and Navarre
, usually follow Spanish naming customs.
A bilingual Basque-Spanish speaker will not necessarily bear a Basque name, and a monolingual Spanish speaker can use a Basque name or a Basque hypocoristic of an official Spanish name.
Some Basque-language names and surnames are foreign transliterations into the Basque tongue, e.g. Ander (English: "Andrew
"; Spanish: Andrés
), Mikel (English: "Michael"; Spanish: Miguel), or Ane (English: "Anne
"; Spanish: Ana). In some cases, the name's original-language denotation is translated to Basque, i.e. Zutoia and Zedarri denote the Spanish Pilar
(English: "Pillar"). Moreover, some Basque names, such as Xabier and Eneko
(English "Xavier
" and "Inigo
") have been transliterated into Spanish (Javier
and Íñigo
).
Recently, Basque names without a direct equivalent in other languages have become popular, e.g. Aitor
(a legendary patriarch), Odei ("cloud"), Iker
("to investigate"), and Amaia ("the end"); finally, other Basque names, without a current direct Spanish meaning, are unique to the Basque language: Eneko, Garikoitz, Urtzi
. Basque names, rather than Spanish names, are preponderant in the Basque Country, countering the Spanish-name imposition of the Franco régime requiring only Spanish names; after Franco's death and the democratic restoration, many Basque adults changed their Spanish names to the Basque equivalent, e.g. from Miguel to Mikel.
A source for modern Basque names is Sabino Arana
's Deun-Ixendegi Euzkotarra ("Basque saint-name collection", published in 1910). Instead of the traditional adaptations of Romance names, he proposed others he made up and that in his opinion were truer to the originals and adapted to the Basque phonology. For example, his brother Luis became Koldobika, from Frankish Hlodwig. The traditional Peru (from Spanish "Pedro
"), Pello or Piarres (from French "Pierre
"), all meaning "Peter", became Kepa from Aramaic כיפא (Kepha). He believed that the suffix -[n]e was inherently feminine, and new names like Nekane ("pain"+ne,"Dolores
") or Garbine ("clean"+ne, "Immaculate [Conception
]") are frequent among Basque females.
Basque surnames usually denoted the patronymic house of the bearer; e.g. Etxebarria
—"new house", from etxe (house) + barri (new), denotes "related to a so-named farmhouse"; in the same way, Garaikoetxea — "house in the heights", garai ("height") + etxe ("house"). Sometimes, surnames denoted not the house itself but a characteristic of the place, e.g. Saratxaga — "willow-place", from saratze ("willow") + -aga ("place of"); Loyola, from loi ("mud") + ola ("iron smithery"); Arriortua —"stone orchard", from harri ("stone") + ortua ("orchard"). Before the 20th century all Basquemen were considered nobles
(indeed, some Basque surnames, e.g. Irujo, were related to some of the oldest Spanish noble families), and many of them used their status to emigrate with privileges to other regions of the Spanish Empire, especially the Americas, due to which some Basque surnames became common to the Spanish-American world; e.g. Mendoza
— "cold mountain", from mendi ("mountain" + hotza ("cold"); Salazar
— "Old hall", from sala ("hall") + zahar ("old"). Until 1978, Spanish was the single official language of the Spanish civil registries and Basque surnames had to be registered according to the Spanish phonetical rules (for example, the Spanish "ch" sound merges the Basque "ts", "tx", and "tz", and someone whose surname in Standard Basque would be "Krutxaga" would have to write it as "Cruchaga", letter "k" also not being used in Spanish). Although the democratic restoration ended this policy, allowing surnames to be officially changed into their Basque version, there still are many people who hold Spanish-written Basque surnames, even in the same family: a father born before 1978 would be surnamed "Echepare" and his children, "Etxepare". This policy even changed the usual pronunciation of some Basque surnames. For instance, in Basque, the letter "z" maintained a sibilant "s"-like sound, while Spanish changed it; thus, a surname such as "Zabala" should be properly read similar to "sabala" (s̻abala), although in Spanish, because the "z" denotes a "th" sound (θ), it would be read as "Tha-bala" (θaˈβala). However, since the letter "z" exists in Spanish, the registries did not force the Zabalas to transliterate their surname.
In Biscay
and Guipuzcoa, it was not common to take a surname from the place (town or village) where one resided, unless one was a foundling. Basque compound surnames were created with two discrete surnames, e.g. Elorduizapaterietxe — Elordui + Zapaterietxe, Mariñelarena
— Mariño + la arena; a practice denoting family allegiances or the equal importance of both families. This custom sometimes conduced to incredibly long surnames, for compound surnames could be used to create others; for example, the longest surname recorded in Spain is Basque, Burionagonatotoricagageazcoechea", formed by Buriona+ Gonatar + Totorika + Beazcoetxea.
Finally, the nationalist leader Sabino Arana pioneered a naming custom of transposing the name-surname order to what he thought was the proper Basque language syntax order; e.g. the woman named Miren Zabala would be referred to as Zabalatar Miren— the surname first, plus the -tar suffix denoting "from a place", and then the name. Thus, Zabalatar Miren means "Miren, of the Zabala family". The change in the order is effected because in the Basque tongue, declined words (such as Zabalatar) that apply to a noun are uttered before the noun itself; another example of this would be his pen name, Arana ta Goiritar Sabin. This Basque naming custom was used in nationalist literature, not in formal, official documents wherein the Castilian naming convention is observed.
-speaking territories also abide by the Spanish naming customs, yet usually the discrete surnames are joined with the letter i (“and"), instead of the Spanish y, and this practice is very common in formal contexts. For example, the current president of the Generalitat de Catalunya
(Government of Catalonia) is formally called El Molt Honorable Senyor Artur Mas i Gavarró
. Furthermore, the national language policy enumerated in article 19.1 of Law 1/1998 stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames".
The correction, translation, and surname-change are regulated by the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) with the Decree 138/2007 of 26 June, modifying the Decree 208/1998 of 30 July, which regulates the accreditation of the linguistic
correctness of names. The attributes and functions of Decree 138/2007 of 26 July regulate the issuance of language-correction certificates for translated
Catalan names, by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
(Institute of Catalan Studies) in Barcelona. Nevertheless, there are Catalan surnames that conform to neither the current spelling rules nor to the traditionally correct Catalan spelling
rules; a language-correction certification can be requested from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
, for names such as these:
forms using only the final portion of the name (unlike Spanish, which mostly uses only the first portion of the name), and with a diminutive suffix. Thus, shortened Catalan names taking the first portion of the name are probably influenced by the Spanish tradition. The influence of Spanish in hypocoristics is recent since it became a general fashion only in twentieth century and specially since Francisco Franco
's dictatorship; example Catalan names are:
-speaking areas also abide the Spanish naming customs. Main differences are the usage of Galician given names and surnames.
s, being these either Galician regions (Sanlés < Salnés, Carnota
, Bergantiños
), towns (Ferrol
, Noia
), parishes or villages (as Andrade
). Just like elsewhere, many surnames were also generated from jobs or professions (Carpinteiro 'carpenter', Cabaleiro 'Knight', Ferreiro 'Smith', Besteiro 'Crossbowman'), physical characteristics (Gago 'Twangy', Tato 'Stutterer', Couceiro 'Tall and thin', Bugallo 'fat', Pardo 'Swarthy'), or origin of the person (Franco and Francés 'French', Portugués 'Portuguese').
Although many Galician surnames have been historically adapted into Spanish phonetics and orthography, they are still clearly recognizable as Galician words: Freijedo, Spanish adaptation of freixedo 'place with ash-trees'; Seijo from seixo 'stone'; Doval from do Val 'of the Valley'; Rejenjo from Reguengo, Galician evolution of local Latin-Germanic word Regalingo 'Royal property'.
Specially relevant are the Galician surnames originated from medieval patronymics, present in local documentation since the 9th century, and popularized from the 12th century on. Although many of them have been historically adapted into Spanish orthography, phonetics and traditions, many are still characteristically Galician; most common ones are:
is an often-occurring surname
in the autonomous Mediterranean North African cities of Ceuta
and Melilla
(respectively registered 10,410 and 7,982 occurrences), due to immigration from Morocco
. Hispanophone
Muslims use the Spanish "Mohamed" spelling for “Muhammad
”. As such, it is often a component of Arabic name
s for men; hence, many Ceutan and Melillan Muslims share surnames despite not sharing a common ancestry. Furthermore, Mohamed (Muhammad) is the most popular name for new-born boys, thus it is not unusual to encounter a man named Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed: the first occurrence is the name, the second occurrence is the paternal surname, and the third occurrence is the maternal surname.
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...
, consisting of a given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
(simple or composite) followed by two family name
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...
s (surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
s). The first surname was traditionally the father's first surname, and the second the mother's first surname. This order may now be reversed, under gender equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
law.
In most situations, the practice is to use one given name and the first surname only, the full name being used in legal, formal, and documentary matters. For differences in Hispanic America
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...
n usages, see Hispanic American naming customs.
Naming system in Spain
Currently in Spain, people bear a single or composite given nameGiven name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
(nombre) and two surnames
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...
(apellidos). A composite given name comprises two (not more) single names; Juan Pablo is considered not to be a first and a second forename, but a single composite forename. Traditionally, a person's first surname is the father's first surname (apellido paterno), and the second one is the mother's first surname (apellido materno). However, gender equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
law has allowed surname transposition since 1999, subject to the condition that every sibling must bear the same surname order recorded in the Registro Civil (civil registry
Civil registry
Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database is called civil register or registry, or population registry. The primary purpose of civil registration is to create legal documents that are used to...
), but there have been legal exceptions. From 2013, if the parents of a child are unable to agree on order of surnames, an official decides which is to come first.
For example, if a man named Fernando García Pons marries a woman named Paula Rodríguez Pérez and has a child named Salvador, there are several legal options, but their child would most usually be known as Salvador García Rodríguez.
Each surname can also be composite, the parts usually linked by the preposition de (of) or by a hyphen. For example, a person's name might be Juan Pablo Fernández de Calderón García-Iglesias, consisting of a forename (Juan Pablo), a paternal surname (Fernández de Calderón) and a maternal surname (García-Iglesias).
Forms of Address
A man named José Antonio Gómez Iglesias would normally be addressed as Señor Gómez instead of Señor Iglesias, because Gómez is his paternal surname. Furthermore, Mr. Gómez might be informally addressed as (i) José Antonio, (ii) José, (iii) Pepe (nickname for José), (iv) Antonio (Anthony), or (v) Toño (nickname for Antonio).In other instances, someone may be referred to primarily by their maternal surname. For example, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
(elected for terms as Prime Minister of Spain in the 2004 and 2008 general elections) is often called simply Zapatero, the name he inherited from his mother's family, since Rodríguez is a common surname and may be ambiguous.
Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
is sometimes referred to in English media as Mr. Márquez, but he is actually Mr. García Márquez or, simply, Mr. García.
In an English-speaking environment, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphen
Hyphen
The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer...
ate their surnames to avoid Anglophone confusion, thus: Mr. José Antonio Gómez-Iglesias.
Forenames
Parents choose their child's given nameGiven name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
, which must be recorded in the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) to establish his or her legal identity. With few restrictions, parents can now choose any name; common sources of names are the parents' taste, honouring a relative, the Roman Catholic calendar of saints
Roman Catholic calendar of saints
The General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of saints and of the mysteries of the Lord that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used...
nomina (nominal register), and traditional Spanish names. Legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
(Jesus, Mary, saints) and typical Spanish names (Antonio, Laura, et al.). Although the first part of a composite forename generally reflects the gender of the child, the second personal name need not (e.g.José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
). At present, the only naming limitation is the dignity of the child, who cannot be given an insulting name. Similar limitations applied against diminutive, familiar, and colloquial variants not recognized as names proper, and "those that lead to confusion regarding sex";
however, current law allows registration of diminutive names.
María and José
Girls are often named María, honouring the Virgin Mary, by appending either a shrine, place, or religious-concept suffix-name to María. In daily life, such women omit the "Mary of the ..." nominal prefix, and use the suffix portion of their composite names as their public, rather than legal, identityPersonally identifiable information
Personally Identifiable Information , as used in information security, is information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual...
. Hence, women with Marian
Marian
Marian may refer to:* Marian , people with the given name Marian* Maid Marian, companion of Robin Hood* Marian, an adjective for things relating to Gaius Marius...
names such as María de los Ángeles (Mary of the Angels), María del Pilar (Mary of the Pillar), and María de la Luz (Mary of the Light), are normally addressed as Ángeles (Angels), Pilar (Pillar), and Luz (Light); however, each might be addressed as María. Also, parents can simply name a girl "María", or "Mari". Nicknames such as Maricarmen for María del Carmen, Marisol for "María (de la) Soledad" ("Our Lady of Solitude", the Virgin Mary), etc. are often used.
It is not unusual for a man's formal name to include María, preceded by a masculine name, e.g. José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
(Joseph Mary Aznar). Equivalently, a girl can be formally named María José (Mary Joseph), and informally named Marijose, Mariajo, Majo, Josefa, Josefina, Fina, Pepa, Pepi, Pepita, Marisé or even José in honor of St. Joseph. María as a masculine name is often abbreviated in writing as M. (José M. Aznar), Ma. (José Ma. Aznar), or Mª (José Mª Morelos). It is unusual for any other names than the religiously significant María and José to be used in this way.
Registered names
The Registro Civil (Civil Registry) officially records a child’s identity as composed of a forename (simple or composite) and the two surnamesFamily 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...
; however, a child can be religiously baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
with several forenames, e.g. Felipe Juan Froilán de Todos los Santos
Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y de Borbón
Don Felipe Juan Froilán de Todos los Santos de Marichalar y Borbón , Madrid) is the eldest son of the Duchess of Lugo, Infanta Elena of Spain and Don Jaime de Marichalar...
. This is usually a royal
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
and noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
family practice, and has no legal significance.
Absence of maiden names
In Spain, upon marrying, the woman does not change her surnames to adopt her husband’s because Spanish naming customs do not include the maiden name concept. Thus, when Leocadia Blanco Álvarez marries Pedro Pérez Montilla, she retains her original name Leocadia Blanco Álvarez.In chapter V, part 2 of Don Quixote (1605, 1615), Teresa Panza reminds her husband Sancho that, properly, she should be addressed as Teresa Cascajo, by her surname, not her marital surname: “Teresa I was named in baptism, a clean and short name, without addings or embellishments, or furnishings of don
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
s and dans; ‘Cascajo’ was my father; and I, as your wife, am called ‘Teresa Panza’, but laws are executed”.
Rarely, the husband's surname can be added after the woman's surnames using the particle "de". Leocadia Blanco Álvarez, married to Pedro Pérez Montilla, can be addressed as Leocadia Blanco de Pérez or as Leocadia Blanco Álvarez de Pérez . This format is not used in everyday settings and has no legal value; it is used rarely and only in situations where the relationship to the husband is being stressed.
Generational transmission
In the generational transmission of surnames, the paternal surname’s precedence eventually eliminates the maternal surnames from the family lineageLineage
Lineage may refer to:- Science :* Lineage or kinship, descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of decent from an ancestor....
. Contemporary law allows the maternal surname to be given precedence, but most people observe the traditional paternal–maternal surname order. So the daughter and son of Ángela López Sáenz and Tomás Portillo Blanco are usually called Laura Portillo López and Pedro Portillo López, but also could be called Laura López Portillo and Pedro López Portillo. Regardless of the surname order, all children's surnames must be in the same order when recorded in the Registro Civil.
Patrilineal surname transmission was not always the norm
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
in Spanish speaking societies. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century, when the current paternal-maternal surname combination norm came into existence, Hispanophone societies often practised matrilineal surname transmission, giving children the maternal surname, and, occasionally, giving children a grandparent's surname (borne by neither parent) for prestige — being perceived as gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
— and profit, flattering the matriarch
Matriarchy
A matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership and moral authority. It is also sometimes called a gynocratic or gynocentric society....
or the patriarch
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
in hope of inheriting
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
land. As with Catalan names, the Spanish naming customs include the orthographic
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
option of conjoining the surnames 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...
particle y (meaning "and"), e.g. José Ortega y Gasset, or Tomás Portillo y Blanco, following an antiquated aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
usage.
Not every surname is a single word; such conjoining usage is common with doubled surnames (maternal-paternal), ancestral composite surnames willed
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
to the following generations — especially when the paternal surname is socially undistinguished. José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro
José María Álvarez del Manzano
José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro is a Spanish politician for the People's Party. Although born in Seville he has lived in Madrid since he was 3 years old. He studied at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo. He was the mayor of Madrid from 1991 to 2003...
is an example, his name comprising a composite (two-word) single name, José María, and two composite surnames Álvarez del Manzano and López del Hierro. Other examples derive from church place-names such as San José. When a person bears doubled surnames, the means of disambiguation is to insert y between the paternal and maternal surnames.
In case of illegitimacy
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
— when the child's father either is unknown or refuses to legally recognise his son or daughter — the child bears both of the mother's surnames.
Occasionally, a person with a common paternal surname and an uncommon maternal surname becomes widely known by the maternal surname. The artist Pablo Ruiz Picasso, the poet Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
, and the politician José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . He was elected for two terms as Prime Minister of Spain, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. On 2 April 2011 he announced he will not stand for re-election in 2012...
are examples. With similar effect, the foreign paternal surname of the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Hughes Galeano
Eduardo Galeano
Eduardo Hughes Galeano is a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist. His best known works are Memoria del fuego and Las venas abiertas de América Latina which have been translated into twenty languages and transcend orthodox genres: combining fiction, journalism, political analysis, and...
(his father was British) is usually omitted. (As a boy, however, he occasionally signed his name as Eduardo Gius, using a hispanized approximation of the English pronunciation of "Hughes".) Such use of the second last name by itself is colloquial, however, and may not be applied in legal contexts.
Castilian and Álavan surnames
Where the Basque and Romance cultures linguistically cohabit, the surnames denote the father's name and the (family) houseFamily
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
; thus the Romance patronymic and the place-name are conjoined with the prepositional particle de ("from", "provenance"), thus in the name José Ignacio López de Arriortúa, the composite surname López de Arriortúa is a simple surname, despite Arriortúa being the original family-name. This is a possibly confusing usage because the Spanish López and the Basque de Arriortúa are discrete surnames in the Basque and Romance cultures.
The particle “de” (of)
In Spanish, the prepositionSpanish prepositions
The prepositions of the Spanish language function exclusively as such, therefore, the language does not use postposition constructions. Most derive from Latin, excepting the Arabic-derived hasta ; yet the list herein includes two archaic prepositions — so and cabe , and excludes vía and pro , two...
particle de (“of”) is used as a conjunction
Spanish grammar
Spanish grammar is the grammar of the Spanish language , which is a Romance language that originated in north central Spain and is spoken today throughout Spain, some twenty countries in the Americas, and Equatorial Guinea....
in two surname spelling styles, and to disambiguate a surname. The first style is in patronymic and toponymic
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
spelling formulæ, e.g. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba known as The Great Captain, Duke of Terranova and Santangelo, Andria, Montalto and Sessa, also known as Gonzalo de Córdoba, Italian: Gonsalvo or Consalvo Ernandes di Cordova was a Spanish general fighting in the times of the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars...
, Pero López de Ayala
Pero López de Ayala
Don Pero López de Ayala was a Castilian statesman, historian, poet, chronicler, chancellor, and courtier. Ayala were one of the major aristocratic families of Castile; they were later claimed to be of the Jewish converso descent, but Pero's own father composed a genealogy tracing the family from...
, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World.He traveled to the New World in...
, as in many conquistador names.
Unlike in French, the Spanish spellings of surnames containing the prepositional particle de are ambiguous without a preceding patronymic, an orthographic
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
style common to noble surnames, thus, the lower-case spellings de la Rúa (“of the street") and de la Torre (“of the tower”) and the upper-case spellings De la Rúa and De la Torre are equally correct.
Without a patronymic:Juan Carlos de Borbón
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
. Unlike in French, Spanish orthography does not require a contraction when a vowel begins the surname, but de el (“of the”) becomes del, e.g. Carlos Arturo del Monte (Charles Arthur of the Mountain).
The patronymic exception:The current (1958) Spanish name law, Artículo 195 del Reglamento del Registro Civil (Article 195 of the Civil Registry Regulations) disallows a person’s prefixing the de particle to his or her surname — the exception is the clarifying addition of de to a surname (apellido) that might be misunderstood as a name (nombre); thus, a child would be registered as Pedro de Miguel Jiménez, to avoid the surname Miguel being mistaken as the second part of a composite name, as Pedro Miguel.
Bearing the de particle does not necessarily denote a noble family, especially in Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
and Alava
Álava
Álava is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community...
, the de usually applied to the place-name (town or village) from which the person and his or her ancestors originated; however, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the usage of de spread as a way of denoting the bearer’s noble heritage to avoid the misperception that he or she is either a Jew or a Moor. In that time, many people, regardless of their true origins, claimed the right to use the particle, e.g. Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
, Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
, et al.; moreover, following that fashion, high nobles, such as Francisco Sandoval Rojas, called himself Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas. During the eighteenth century, the Spanish nobility fully embraced the French custom of using de as a nobility identifier, however, commoners also bore the de particle, which made the de usages unclear; thus, nobility was emphasised with the surname’s lineage.
The particle “y” (and)
In the sixteenth century, the Spanish adopted the copulative conjunctionGrammatical 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...
y (“and”) to distinguish a person’s surnames; thus the Andalusian Baroque writer Luis de Góngora y Argote
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered to be the most prominent Spanish poets of their age. His style is characterized by what was called culteranismo, also known as Gongorism...
(1561–1627), the Aragonese painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
(1746–1828), the Andalusian artist Pablo Diego Ruiz y Picasso (1881–1973), and the Madrilenian liberal philosopher José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset
José Ortega y Gasset was a Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist working during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. He was, along with Nietzsche, a proponent of the idea of perspectivism.-Biography:José Ortega y Gasset was...
(1883–1955). In Hispanic America, this spelling convention was common to clergymen (e.g. Salvadoran Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), and sanctioned by the Ley de Registro Civil (Civil Registry Law) of 1870, requiring birth certificates indicating the paternal and maternal surnames conjoined with y — thus, Felipe González y Márquez and José María Aznar y López are the respective true names of the Spanish politicians Felipe González Márquez
Felipe González
Felipe González Márquez is a Spanish socialist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. To date, he remains the longest-serving Prime Minister of Spain, after having served four successive mandates from 1982 to 1996.-Early life:Felipe was...
and José María Aznar López
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
; however, unlike in Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, the Spanish usage is infrequent.
The conjunction y avoids denominational confusion when the paternal surname might appear to be a (first) name; hence the physiologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramón y Cajal ForMemRS was a Spanish pathologist, histologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were original: he is considered by many to be the father of modern neuroscience...
might appear to be named Santiago Ramón (composite) and surnamed Cajal, like-wise the jurist Francisco Tomás y Valiente, and the cleric Vicente Enrique y Tarancón. Without the conjunction, the footballer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
Rafael Martín Vázquez
Rafael Martín Vázquez
Rafael Martín Vázquez is a retired Spanish footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, with above-average skills....
, known as Martín Vázquez (his surnames) mistakenly appears to be named Martín rather than Rafael, whilst, to his annoyance, the linguist Fernando Lázaro Carreter
Fernando Lázaro Carreter
Fernando Lázaro Carreter was a Spanish linguist, journalist and literary critic who worked to improve the way the Spanish language is spoken and written, who penned the hugely popular 1997 book El Dardo en la Palabra , a collection of articles he wrote on linguistic gaffes in the media...
occasionally was addressed as Don Lázaro, rather than as Don Fernando.
Moreover, when the maternal surname begins with an i vowel sound, written with either the vowel I (Ibarra), the vowel Y (Ybarra archaic spelling) or the combination Hi + consonant (Higueras), Spanish euphony
Euphony
Phonaesthetics is the claim or study of inherent pleasantness or beauty or unpleasantness of the sound of certain words and sentences. Poetry is considered euphonic, as is well-crafted literary prose...
substitutes the softer-sounded conjunction e in place of the sharper-sounded conjunction y, thus the examples of the Spanish statesman Eduardo Dato e Iradier
Eduardo Dato e Iradier
Eduardo Dato e Iradier was a Spanish political leader. He served three times as Spanish Prime Minister: from 27 October 1913 to 9 December 1915, from 11 June 1917 to 3 November 1917, and from 28 April 1920 till his death...
(1856–1921).
Denotations
To communicate a person’s social identityIdentity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
, Spanish naming customs provide orthographic
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
means, such as suffix-letter abbreviations, surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
spellings, and place names, which denote and connote the person’s place in society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
.
Identity and descent
h. (son of): A man named like his father, might append the lower-case suffix h. (denoting hijo, son) to his surname, thus distinguishing himself, Juan Gómez Marcos, h., from his father, Juan Gómez Marcos; the English analogue is “Jr.” (son).–ez: Spanish surnames ending in -ez originated as patronymics denoting "the son of"—Fernández (son of Fernando), González (son of Gonzalo)—yet not every such surname is patronymic, because in many Spanish dialects the Spanish-language letters z and s are pronounced alike, leading to the same word being spelt with either "s" or "z". In Hispano-American Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, the -ez spellings of Chávez, Cortez (Alberto Cortez
Alberto Cortez
Alberto Cortez is an Argentine singer and songwriter. Cortez and his wife live in Madrid.Cortez was born in Rancul, La Pampa Province, Argentina, March 13, 1938. At the age of six entered in the elementary school and at the same time to the conservatory Alberto Williams. He begins to compose songs...
) and Valdez are not patronymic surnames, because they are variant spellings of the Iberian
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
Spanish spelling with -es, as in the names of Manuel Chaves González
Manuel Chaves González
Manuel Chaves González is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party . Since 2009 he has served as the Third Vice President of the Spanish Government and since 2000 as the Chairman of PSOE...
, Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and Javier Valdés. For more on the -z surnames in Spanish see Influences on the Spanish language
Influences on the Spanish language
The Spanish language has a long history of borrowing words, expressions and subtler features of other languages it has come in contact with.Spanish developed from Vulgar Latin, with influence from Celtiberian , Basque and Arabic, and Visigothic in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.-Formative...
.
- Álvarez - the son of Álvar, Álvaro
- Antúnez - the son of Antón, Antonio
- Benéitez, Benítez - the son of Benito
- Díaz - the son of Diego
- Domínguez - the son of Domingo
- Enríquez - the son of Enrique
- Estévez - the son of Esteve, Estevo, Esteban
- Fernández - the son of Fernando
- Giménez, Jiménez, Ximénez - the son of Gimeno, Jimeno, Ximeno
- Gómez - the son of Gome
- González - the son of Gonzalo
- Hernández - the son of Hernando
- López - the son of Lope
- Márquez - the son of Marco, Marcos
- Méndez - the son of Mendo
- Míguez, Miguélez - the son of Miguel
- Martínez - the son of Martín
- Núñez - the son of Nuño
- Pérez - the son of Pedro
- Rodríguez - the son of Rodrigo
- Ruiz - the son of Ruy, Roy
- Ramírez - the son of Ramiro
- Sánchez - the son of Sancho
- Suárez - the son of Suero
- Velázquez - the son of Velasco
- Vélez - the son of Vela
Foundlings
Anonymous foundlingsChild abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...
were a naming problem for civil registrars, but such anonymous children were often named toponymically
Place name origins
In much of the "Old World" the names of many places cannot easily be interpreted or understood; they do not convey any apparent meaning in the modern language of the area. This is due to a general set of processes through which place names evolve over time, until their obvious meaning is lost...
, after the town where they were found. Because most foundlings were reared in church orphanages, they were often given the surnames Iglesia or Iglesias (church[es]) and Cruz (cross). Blanco (connoting "blank" here, rather then the more usual "white") was another option. A toponymical first surname might be followed as second surname by Iglesia or Cruz.
Foundlings often were surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
d Expósito (Lat. exposĭtus, "exposed", connoting "foundling"), which marked them, and their descendants, as of low caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
and social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
, people without social pedigree. In the Catalan language
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
the surname Deulofeu ("made by God") was often given to foundlings. In 1921 Spanish law allowed the surname Expósito to be changed without charge.
Foreign citizens
In Spain, legal and illegal foreign immigrants retain use of their cultural naming customs, yet upon becoming Spanish citizensCitizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
, they are legally obliged to assume Spanish-style names (a name and two surnames). If the naturalised
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
person is from a one-surname culture, the actual surname is duplicated; therefore, the English name “George Albert Duran” becomes the Spanish name “George Albert Durán Durán”, yet the law optionally allows him to adopt his mother's maiden name (her surname), as his maternal (second) surname. Formally, Spanish naming customs conflate his name “George” and his middle-name “Albert” to the composite name “George Albert”, and his sole surname, “Duran”, is duplicated as his paternal and maternal surnames.
Flamenco artists
Historically, flamencoFlamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
artists seldom used their proper names. According to the guitarist Juan Serrano
Juan Serrano
Juan Serrano, in the Spanish version , or João Serrão in the Portuguese original was a 16th century navigator who sailed with Ferdinand Magellan during the first circumnavigation of the world ....
, this was because Flamenco was considered disreputable and they did not want to embarrass their families: 'We have to start with the history of the gypsies in Spain. They gained a bad reputation because of the minor crimes they had to commit to survive. They did not have any kind of jobs, they had to do something to live, and of course this created hostility. And Flamenco was the music of the Gypsies, so many high society people did not accept it — they said Flamenco was in the hands of criminals, bandits, et cetera. And the girls, that maybe liked dancing or singing, their parents said “Oh no, you want to be a prostitute!”.'
This tradition has persisted to the present day, even though Flamenco is now legitimate. Sometimes the artistic name consists of the home town appended to the first name (Manolo Sanlúcar
Manolo Sanlúcar
Manolo Sanlúcar is a flamenco composer and guitarist born in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1945. He is considered one of the most important Spanish composers of present times, and together with Paco de Lucía, Serranito, and Vicente Amigo, one of the main figures in the evolution of the flamenco...
, Ramón de Algeciras); but many, perhaps most, of such names are more eccentric: Pepe de la Matrona (because his mother was a midwife); Perico del Lunar (because he had a mole); Tomatito
Tomatito
José Fernández Torres, known as Tomatito , is a Spanish Romani flamenco guitarist. He grew up in a musical family, including two uncles: Niño Miguel, a flamenco guitarist, and Antonio, a professional guitarist....
(son of a father known as Tomate because of his red face); Sabicas
Sabicas
Sabicas was a Flamenco guitarist, of Romani origin, who was born in 1912 in Pamplona, Spain and died in 14 April 1990 in New York....
(because of his childhood passion for green beans, from niño del las habicas); and many more.
Spanish hypocoristics and nicknames
Many Spanish names can be shortened into hypocoristicHypocoristic
A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...
, affectionate "child-talk
Baby talk
Baby talk, also referred to as caretaker speech, infant-directed speech or child-directed speech and informally as "motherese", "parentese", "mommy talk", or "daddy talk" is a nonstandard form of speech used by adults in talking to toddlers and infants.It is usually delivered with a "cooing"...
" forms using a diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
suffix, especially -ito and -cito (masculine) and -ita and -cita (feminine). Sometimes longer than the person’s name, a nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
usually derives via linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
rules. The usages vary by country and region; these are some usual names and their nicknames:
- Adelina = Deli, Lina
- Adelaida = Ade, Adela
- Adrián (Male) or Adriana (Female) = Adri
- Alberto = Alber, Albertito, Beto, Berto, Tico, Tuco
- Alejandro = Ale, Álex, Alejo, Jandro, Jano, Sandro
- Alejandra = Sandra, Ale, Álex, Aleja, Jandra, Jana
- Alfonso = Alfon, Fon, Fonso, Fonsi, Poncho
- Alicia = Ali, Licha
- Anacleto = Cleto
- Andrés = Andi
- Antonio = Antón, Tonio, Toni, Tono, Tonino, Toño, Toñin, Antoñito, Antuco, Antuquito
- Antonia = Toña, Tona, Toñi, Tonia, Tania, Antoñita
- Arturo = Arturito, Turito, Art, Lito
- Ascensión = Choni
- Asunción = Asun, Susi
- Beatriz = Bea, Betty, Bettina
- Begoña = Bego
- Benjamin = Ben, Benja, Benjas
- Berenice = Bere
- Bernabé = Berna
- Bernardo= Bernar, Ber
- Bernardino= Bernar
- Bonifacio= Boni
- Candela= Can, Cande, Candi, Candelita
- Cándido/a = Candi
- Carla = Carlita
- Carlos = Car, Carlito, Carlitos, Carlo, Calín, Carlines, Litos, Chepe
- Carmen = Mamen, Carmenchu, Menchu, Carmencha, Carmencita, Carmelita, Carmela, Carmina
- Carolina = Caro, Carol, Carito
- Catalina = Cata
- Cecilia = Ceci, Chila, Chili
- Celestino = Celes, Tino
- César = Cesi, Cesa, Checha, Cesito, Cesitar
- Charles = Carles
- Ciro = Cirino
- Claudia = Clau, Claudi
- Concepción = Conchi, Conchita, Concha, Conce, Cione, Chon
- Consuelo = Consu, Chelo, Coni, Concha
- Covadonga = Cova, Cobi
- Cristian = Cris
- Cristina = Cris, Cristi, Tina
- Cristóbal = Cris, Cristo, Tala, Toba
- Cristóforo = Cuco, Chosto
- Cruz = Crucita, Chuz
- Dalila = Lila
- Dalia = Dali
- Daniel = Dani
- David = Davo, Davilo
- Dolores = Lola, Loles, Loli, Lolita
- Eduardo = Edu, Lalo, Eduardito, Guayo
- Eloísa = Elo
- Enrique = Quique, Kike
- Ernesto = Neto, Netico, Tito
- Esperanza = Espe, Pera, Lancha, Pancha
- Eugenia = Genita
- Eugenio = Genín, Genito
- Eva = Evita
- Federico = Quico, Kiko, Fede
- Felícita = Felacha
- Fermín = Mincho
- Fernanda = Fer, Nanda
- FernandoFernandoFernando may mean:* A Portuguese, Spanish and Italian given name equivalent to the Germanic given name Ferdinand or Vernon, with an original meaning of "adventurous, bold journey".-First name:* Fernando el Católico, king of Aragon...
= Fer, Nando, Nano, Ferny, Feña, Fercho - Francisco = Fran, Paco, Sisco, Cisco, Chisco, Curro, Quico, Kiko, Frasco, Frascuelo, Pacho, Pancho, Panchito
- Francisca = Fran, Paqui, Paquita, Sisca, Cisca, Pancha, Curra, Paca, Quica, Panchita, Panchi
- Gabriel = Gabi, Gabo, Gabri
- Gabriela = Gaba, Gabi, Gaby
- Gerardo = Gera, Yayo, Lalo
- Germán = Mancho
- Gertrudis = Tula
- Gonzalo = Gonza, Gon, Gonchi, Lalo, Chalo, Talo, Tali
- Graciela = Chela
- Gregorio = Goyo, Gorio
- Gricelda = Gris, Celda
- Guadalupe = Lupe (female & male), Guada, Pupe, Lupita, Lupilla (female) & Lupito, Lupillo (male), Pita (female)
- Guillermo = Guille, Guiller, Willy, Meme, Momo, Memo
- Héctor = Tito, Torin
- Hortensia = Tencha
- Ignacia = Nacha, Ina
- Ignacio = Nacho, Nachito, Naco
- Inocencia = Chencha
- Inocencio = Chencho
- Isabel = Bela, Chabela, Chavela, Chavelita, Chabelita, Isa
- Ivan = Ivi, Ivo
- Jacobo = Cobo, Yaco, Yago
- Javier = Javi, Jabo, Javito
- Jorge = Jorgecito, Jorgis, Jordi, Jorgito, Gorge, Jecito
- Jesús = Jesu, Chus, Chucho, Chuchi, Chuy, Suso, Chuyito
- Jesús Alberto = Jesusbeto, Chuybeto
- Jesus María = Chumari, Chusma, Jesusmari
- Jesús Manuel = Jesusma
- Jesús Ramón = Jerra, Jesusrra, Chuymoncho, Chuymonchi
- Jesusa = Susi, Sus, Chusa, Chucha, Chuy, Chuyita
- Joaquín = Joaco, Quin, Quino, Quincho, Chimo
- José = Pepe, Chepe, Pepito, Chepito, Pito, Pepín
- Josefa = Pepa, Pepi, Pepita, Fina, Fini, Finita
- José Carlos = Joseca
- José Luis = Joselo, Joselu, Pepelu
- José Miguel = Josemi, Jomi, Chemi
- Josefina = Jose, Fina, Chepina, Chepita
- José María = Chema, Chemari, Jose Mari
- José Manuel = Chema, Mané, Memel
- José Ramón = Peperramón, Joserra
- Juan = Juanito, Juancho, Juanelo, Juampi
- Juan Camilo = Juanca, Juancho, Juanqui, Juanquis
- Juan Carlos = Juanca, Juancar, Juanqui
- Juan Ernesto = Juaner
- Juan Esteban = JuanesJuanesJuan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez , better known as Juanes is a Colombian musician who was a member of heavy metal band Ekhymosis and is now a solo artist. In 2000, his solo debut album Fíjate Bien won three Latin Grammy Awards.Juanes has sold more than 13 million albums...
- Juan Felipe = Juanfe
- Juan Fernando = Juanfer
- Juan Francisco = Juanfran
- Juan Javier = Juanja
- Juan José = Juanjo
- Juan Luis = Juanlu
- Juan Manuel = Juanma
- Juan Miguel = Juangui, Juanmi
- Juan Pablo = Juampa, Juampi, Juampis
- Juan Rafael = Juanra
- Juan Ramón = Juanra
- Juan Vicente = Juanvi
- Julio = Julín, Julito
- Laura = Lalita, Lala, Lauri, Lauris, Lau
- Leticia = Leti
- Lourdes = Lulú
- Lucía = Lucy
- Luciano = Chano
- Luis = Lucho, Luisito, Güicho, Luisín
- Magdalena = Magda, Malena, Lena, Leni
- Manuel = Manu, Manolo, Lolo, Manolito, Meño, Manuelito, Manolillo, Lito, Lillo, Mani, Manué, Manolín, Mel, Nel
- Marcelo = Chelo, Marce
- Margarita = Marga, Magui, Rita
- María = Mari, Mary, Maruja
- María Aurora = Marora
- María Auxiliadora = Chilo, Mauxi, Mausi
- María de la Luz = Mariluz
- María de Lourdes = Malula, Marilú, Lulú
- María del Carmen = Maricarmen, Mamen, Mai, Maica, Mayca, Mayka, Mari
- María del Rosario = Charo, Charito
- María del Refugio = Cuca
- María del Socorro = Maricoco
- María del Sol/María de la Soledad = Marisol, Sol, Sole
- María de las Nieves = Marinieves
- María de los Ángeles = Marielos
- María Eugenia = Maru, Yeni, Kena, Kenita
- María Elena = Malena, Marilena
- María Fernanda = Mafe, Mafer
- María Isabel = Maribel, Mabel, Marisabel, Marisa
- María José/María Josefa = Cote, Coté, Jose, Josefa, Mai, Majo, Mariajo, Marijó, Marijose, Maripepa, Maripepi
- María Laura = Malala
- María Luisa = Marisa, Mariluisa
- María Teresa = Maritere, Maite, Mayte, Teté, Mari
- María Victoria = Mariví
- Mario = Mayito
- Mauricio = Mau, Mauro, Mauri
- Máximo = Maxi, Max, Maximino
- Mayola = May
- Mercedes = Merce, Merche, Meche, Meches, Mechas
- Micaela = Mica
- Miguel = Migue
- Minerva = Mine, Miner
- Mónica = Moni
- Montserrat = Monse, Montse
- Myriam = Myri, Miriam, Miry
- Natividad = Nati
- Nicolás = Nico
- Oriana = Ori, Nana, Nanita, Ana, Anita
- Pablo = Pablito, Pablete, Pablazo
- Paloma = Palo
- Paula = Pau
- Paulina = Pau, Pauli
- Paola = Pao
- Patricia = Patri, Tricia, Pato
- Patricio = Pato, Patric
- Pedro = Pedrito, Perico
- Pilar = Pili, Pilarín, Piluca, Pilarse
- Rafael = Rafa, Rafi, Rafo
- Ramón = Mon, Moncho, Monchi, Ramoncito, Pocholo
- Raúl = Rauli, Raulito, Rul, Rulo, Rule, Ral, Rali
- Refugio = Cuca, Cuquita
- Remedios = Reme
- Ricardo = Rica
- Rodolfo = Fito, Fofo, Rodo, Bofo
- Rodrigo = Rodri, Ruy, Roy, Ro
- Roberto = Robe, Rober, Berto, Robertito, Tito, Beto
- Rosalía = Chalia
- Rosalva = Chava
- Rosario = Charo, Chayo, Chayito
- Rocío = Roci, Chio, Ro
- Salomón = Salo
- Salvador = Salva, Chava, Chavito
- Santiago = Santi, Yago, Diejo, Chago, Tiago
- Sergio = Chucho, Checo, Chejo, Checho, Sergi, Yeyo
- Simón = Monsi
- Soledad = Sol, Sole, Chole, Chol
- Susana = Susi, Sus, Su
- Teresa = Tere, Teresita
- Timoteo = Timo, Teín
- Tomás = Tomasito, Tomasín, Tomy
- Valentina = Val, Vale, Tina, Tinita, Valentinita
- Valentino = Val, Vale, Tino, Tinito, Valente, Valentinito
- Vicente = Chente, Vicen, Bicho, Sento
- Victor, Victorio = Vic, Vis, Vico
- Victoria = Vico, Viqui, Viky, Vicky
- Verónica = Vero, Verito, Veru
- Yolanda = Yola, Yoli
Spain's other languages
The official recognition of Spain's other written languagesRegional language
A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area....
— Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
, and Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
— legally allowed the autonomous communities to re-establish their vernacular social identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
, including the legal use of personal names in the local languages and written traditions — banned since 1938 — sometimes via the re-spelling of names from Castilian Spanish to their original languages.
Basque names
The territories under the influence of Basque culture, mainly the Basque CountryBasque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
and Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
, usually follow Spanish naming customs.
A bilingual Basque-Spanish speaker will not necessarily bear a Basque name, and a monolingual Spanish speaker can use a Basque name or a Basque hypocoristic of an official Spanish name.
Some Basque-language names and surnames are foreign transliterations into the Basque tongue, e.g. Ander (English: "Andrew
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of a given name and surname common in many countries. Alternatives include André, Andrey, Andrei, Andrej, András, Andrés, Andreas, Andreu, Anders and Endrew. ‘Andrew’ is a common name in English-speaking countries. In the 1990s it was among the top ten most popular names...
"; Spanish: Andrés
Andres
Andres or Andrés may refer to:* Hurricane Andres * Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois United States* Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France- People :...
), Mikel (English: "Michael"; Spanish: Miguel), or Ane (English: "Anne
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ane or Ann is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah or Hanani, meaning 'He [= God] has favoured me', the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel. Anne is a common name in France.It is sometimes used as a male...
"; Spanish: Ana). In some cases, the name's original-language denotation is translated to Basque, i.e. Zutoia and Zedarri denote the Spanish Pilar
Pilar
Our Lady of the Pillar is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her claimed appearance during the start of Christianity in Spain. She is considered the Patroness of the country and the Spanish Civil Guard. Her shrine is in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, by the river...
(English: "Pillar"). Moreover, some Basque names, such as Xabier and Eneko
Eneko
Eneko may refer to* Basque given name, probably meaning 'My little dear', from ene + ko , adapted to Íñigo in Spanish or Inigo in English; for persons with this name see: Special:PrefixIndex/Eneko...
(English "Xavier
Xavier (name)
Xavier is a masculine name, one of the possible spellings of Javier.-Surname:*Abel Xavier, Portuguese footballer*Anderson Conceição Xavier , Brazilian footballer*Arlene Xavier, Brazilian volleyball player...
" and "Inigo
Inigo
Inigo is an English male name that is an adaptation of the Spanish Íñigo, in turn a rendering of the Basque name Eneko,. The ultimate origins remain obscure, in part due to the lack of early records in the Basque language...
") have been transliterated into Spanish (Javier
Javier
Javier may refer to:* Javier * San Javier , Spanish-language references to Saint Francis XavierGeography:* Javier, Spain, a town and municipality in Navarre* Javier, Leyte, PhilippinesFictional characters:...
and Íñigo
Inigo
Inigo is an English male name that is an adaptation of the Spanish Íñigo, in turn a rendering of the Basque name Eneko,. The ultimate origins remain obscure, in part due to the lack of early records in the Basque language...
).
Recently, Basque names without a direct equivalent in other languages have become popular, e.g. Aitor
Aitor
Aitor is a Basque masculine given name, created by Agosti Xaho for a Basque ancestral patriarch descending from the Biblical Tubal in his work "The Legend of Aitor" ....
(a legendary patriarch), Odei ("cloud"), Iker
Iker
Iker is a Basque male given name. The corresponding female name is Ikerne. It was created by the Spanish Basque writer Sabino Arana in his book —an effort to provide neologistic Basque versions of names instead of the traditional adaptations of Romance names.- People with the given name Iker :*...
("to investigate"), and Amaia ("the end"); finally, other Basque names, without a current direct Spanish meaning, are unique to the Basque language: Eneko, Garikoitz, Urtzi
Urtzi
Urtzi is a Basque term that has no convincing explanation as yet. It either represents an old common noun for the sky, or is the name for a pre-Christian sky deity.-The Urtzi controversy:...
. Basque names, rather than Spanish names, are preponderant in the Basque Country, countering the Spanish-name imposition of the Franco régime requiring only Spanish names; after Franco's death and the democratic restoration, many Basque adults changed their Spanish names to the Basque equivalent, e.g. from Miguel to Mikel.
A source for modern Basque names is Sabino Arana
Sabino Arana
Sabino Arana Goiri, self-styled as Arana ta Goiri'taŕ Sabin, , was a Spanish and Basque writer. He was the founder of the Basque Nationalist Party and father of Basque nationalism....
's Deun-Ixendegi Euzkotarra ("Basque saint-name collection", published in 1910). Instead of the traditional adaptations of Romance names, he proposed others he made up and that in his opinion were truer to the originals and adapted to the Basque phonology. For example, his brother Luis became Koldobika, from Frankish Hlodwig. The traditional Peru (from Spanish "Pedro
Pedro
Pedro or the archaic Pêro is a masculine given name. It is a Portuguese, Galician and Spanish form of the name Peter, which is derived, via Latin "petra", from the Greek word "η πετρα" meaning "stone, rock"...
"), Pello or Piarres (from French "Pierre
Pierre
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter . Pierre originally means "rock" or "stone" in French...
"), all meaning "Peter", became Kepa from Aramaic כיפא (Kepha). He believed that the suffix -[n]e was inherently feminine, and new names like Nekane ("pain"+ne,"Dolores
Dolores
-Places:*Argentina**Dolores, Buenos Aires*Belize**Rancho Dolores*Colombia** Dolores, Tolima*Guatemala**Dolores, El Petén*Mexico** Dolores Hidalgo, a town in Guanajuato** Dolores, Baja California Sur** Dolores, Chihuahua*Philippines** Dolores, Abra...
") or Garbine ("clean"+ne, "Immaculate [Conception
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
]") are frequent among Basque females.
Basque surnames usually denoted the patronymic house of the bearer; e.g. Etxebarria
Etxebarria
Etxebarria is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain.-See also:Javier, Etxebarri, Etxeberria, Chávarri are names with the same Basque etymons.-External links:*...
—"new house", from etxe (house) + barri (new), denotes "related to a so-named farmhouse"; in the same way, Garaikoetxea — "house in the heights", garai ("height") + etxe ("house"). Sometimes, surnames denoted not the house itself but a characteristic of the place, e.g. Saratxaga — "willow-place", from saratze ("willow") + -aga ("place of"); Loyola, from loi ("mud") + ola ("iron smithery"); Arriortua —"stone orchard", from harri ("stone") + ortua ("orchard"). Before the 20th century all Basquemen were considered nobles
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
A hidalgo or fidalgo is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. In popular usage it has come to mean the non-titled nobility. Hidalgos were exempt from paying taxes, but did not necessarily own real property...
(indeed, some Basque surnames, e.g. Irujo, were related to some of the oldest Spanish noble families), and many of them used their status to emigrate with privileges to other regions of the Spanish Empire, especially the Americas, due to which some Basque surnames became common to the Spanish-American world; e.g. Mendoza
Mendoza (disambiguation)
Mendoza is a surname of Basque origin, also occurring as a place name. It means Cold Mountain, from words in the Basque language, mendi and otz + definite article '-a' . When related to Spain, it usually applies to the descendants of the Mendoza family, an old basque noble family originally from...
— "cold mountain", from mendi ("mountain" + hotza ("cold"); Salazar
Salazar
- Angola :* Vila Salazar, Portuguese colonial name for the city of N'dalatando in the province of Cuanza Norte- Spain :* Salazar , a village in the municipality of Villarcayo de Merindad de Castilla la Vieja, province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León* Salazar Valley, in...
— "Old hall", from sala ("hall") + zahar ("old"). Until 1978, Spanish was the single official language of the Spanish civil registries and Basque surnames had to be registered according to the Spanish phonetical rules (for example, the Spanish "ch" sound merges the Basque "ts", "tx", and "tz", and someone whose surname in Standard Basque would be "Krutxaga" would have to write it as "Cruchaga", letter "k" also not being used in Spanish). Although the democratic restoration ended this policy, allowing surnames to be officially changed into their Basque version, there still are many people who hold Spanish-written Basque surnames, even in the same family: a father born before 1978 would be surnamed "Echepare" and his children, "Etxepare". This policy even changed the usual pronunciation of some Basque surnames. For instance, in Basque, the letter "z" maintained a sibilant "s"-like sound, while Spanish changed it; thus, a surname such as "Zabala" should be properly read similar to "sabala" (s̻abala), although in Spanish, because the "z" denotes a "th" sound (θ), it would be read as "Tha-bala" (θaˈβala). However, since the letter "z" exists in Spanish, the registries did not force the Zabalas to transliterate their surname.
In Biscay
Biscay
Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...
and Guipuzcoa, it was not common to take a surname from the place (town or village) where one resided, unless one was a foundling. Basque compound surnames were created with two discrete surnames, e.g. Elorduizapaterietxe — Elordui + Zapaterietxe, Mariñelarena
Mariñelarena
Mariñelarena or Marinelarena is a Basque surname that has its origins in the village of Betelu, located north of Navarra, Spain and close to the frontier with Gipuzkoa.-Etymology and history:The surname means in the Basque language "...of the sailor"...
— Mariño + la arena; a practice denoting family allegiances or the equal importance of both families. This custom sometimes conduced to incredibly long surnames, for compound surnames could be used to create others; for example, the longest surname recorded in Spain is Basque, Burionagonatotoricagageazcoechea", formed by Buriona+ Gonatar + Totorika + Beazcoetxea.
Finally, the nationalist leader Sabino Arana pioneered a naming custom of transposing the name-surname order to what he thought was the proper Basque language syntax order; e.g. the woman named Miren Zabala would be referred to as Zabalatar Miren— the surname first, plus the -tar suffix denoting "from a place", and then the name. Thus, Zabalatar Miren means "Miren, of the Zabala family". The change in the order is effected because in the Basque tongue, declined words (such as Zabalatar) that apply to a noun are uttered before the noun itself; another example of this would be his pen name, Arana ta Goiritar Sabin. This Basque naming custom was used in nationalist literature, not in formal, official documents wherein the Castilian naming convention is observed.
Catalan names
The CatalanCatalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
-speaking territories also abide by the Spanish naming customs, yet usually the discrete surnames are joined with the letter i (“and"), instead of the Spanish y, and this practice is very common in formal contexts. For example, the current president of the Generalitat de Catalunya
President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
The President of the Generalitat of Catalonia is the head of government of Catalonia. The president leads the executive branch of the regional government....
(Government of Catalonia) is formally called El Molt Honorable Senyor Artur Mas i Gavarró
Artur Mas i Gavarró
Artur Mas i Gavarró is a Spanish politician. He is the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, having assumed office on December 27, 2010 after winning the November 2010 election...
. Furthermore, the national language policy enumerated in article 19.1 of Law 1/1998 stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames".
The correction, translation, and surname-change are regulated by the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) with the Decree 138/2007 of 26 June, modifying the Decree 208/1998 of 30 July, which regulates the accreditation of the linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
correctness of names. The attributes and functions of Decree 138/2007 of 26 July regulate the issuance of language-correction certificates for translated
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
Catalan names, by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
Institut d'Estudis Catalans
The Institut d'Estudis Catalans , also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture"....
(Institute of Catalan Studies) in Barcelona. Nevertheless, there are Catalan surnames that conform to neither the current spelling rules nor to the traditionally correct Catalan spelling
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
rules; a language-correction certification can be requested from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans
Institut d'Estudis Catalans
The Institut d'Estudis Catalans , also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture"....
, for names such as these:
- Casas to Cases
- Farré to Ferrer
- Gabarra to Gavarró
- Jufré to Jofré
- Mayoral to Majoral
- Perpiñá to Perpinyà
- Pijuan to Pijoan
- Piñol to Pinyol
- Roselló to Rosselló
Catalan hypocoristics and nicknames
Many Catalan names are shortened to hypocoristicHypocoristic
A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...
forms using only the final portion of the name (unlike Spanish, which mostly uses only the first portion of the name), and with a diminutive suffix. Thus, shortened Catalan names taking the first portion of the name are probably influenced by the Spanish tradition. The influence of Spanish in hypocoristics is recent since it became a general fashion only in twentieth century and specially since Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's dictatorship; example Catalan names are:
- Antoni = Toni
- Bartomeu = Tomeu
- Dolors = Lloll, Dolo
- Concepció = Ció
- Eulàlia = Laia
- Francesc/a = Cesc, Quico/a, Xesco/a, Xisco/a, Cisco/a, Sisquet/a
- Ignasi = Nasi
- Isabel = Bel
- Jacint = Cinto
- Joaquim/a = Quim/a, Ximo/a
- Josefina = Fina, Fineta
- Josep/a = Pep/a, Pepita
- Josep Maria = Pemi
- Magdalena = Talena, Magda
- Manel = Nelo
- Meritxell = Txell, Meri
- Mariona = Ona, Miona
- Montserrat = Serrat, Rat, Montse, Munsa
- Narcís/isa = Narciset/a, Ciset/a, Ciso/a
- Núria = Nuri
- Onofre = Nofre
- Salvador = Vadó, Boro (in ValenciaValencian CommunityThe Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
) - Sebastià/ana = Tià/ana
- Vicent = Vicentó, Cento
- Xavier = Xavi, Xevi, Javi (the J is pronounced as in English)
Galician names
The GalicianGalician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
-speaking areas also abide the Spanish naming customs. Main differences are the usage of Galician given names and surnames.
Galician Surnames
Most Galician surnames have their origin in local toponymyToponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
s, being these either Galician regions (Sanlés < Salnés, Carnota
Carnota
Carnota is a municipality of Spain in the province of A Coruña, autonomous community of Galicia. It has an area of 66.4 km², a population of 5285 and a population density of 79.59 people/km² It is famous because of its majestic hórreo, granary, the largest one in the world. It has a barrocan...
, Bergantiños
Bergantiños
Bergantiños is a comarca in the Galician Province of A Coruña. The overall population of this local region is 70,698 .-Municipalities:Cabana de Bergantiños, Carballo, Coristanco, A Laracha, Laxe, Malpica de Bergantiños and Ponteceso....
), towns (Ferrol
Ferrol
Ferrol can refer to:* Ferrol, Spain, industrial city and naval station in Galicia * Ferrol, Virginia, town in the United States of America* Ferrol, Romblon, municipality in the Philippines* Ferrol, Peninsula, Peru, South America...
, Noia
Noia
Noia is a town and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It has a population of 14,947 inhabitants , being situated in the Province of A Coruña, some 20 miles west of Santiago de Compostela near the mouth of the Tambre river....
), parishes or villages (as Andrade
Andrade
Originally, the name Andrade could have come from any of numerous places of the same name in Galicia or northern Portugal and several Andrade are known from documents dating back to the 12th century. Most likely, however, it originated in the small fief of San Martiño de Andrade Originally, the...
). Just like elsewhere, many surnames were also generated from jobs or professions (Carpinteiro 'carpenter', Cabaleiro 'Knight', Ferreiro 'Smith', Besteiro 'Crossbowman'), physical characteristics (Gago 'Twangy', Tato 'Stutterer', Couceiro 'Tall and thin', Bugallo 'fat', Pardo 'Swarthy'), or origin of the person (Franco and Francés 'French', Portugués 'Portuguese').
Although many Galician surnames have been historically adapted into Spanish phonetics and orthography, they are still clearly recognizable as Galician words: Freijedo, Spanish adaptation of freixedo 'place with ash-trees'; Seijo from seixo 'stone'; Doval from do Val 'of the Valley'; Rejenjo from Reguengo, Galician evolution of local Latin-Germanic word Regalingo 'Royal property'.
Specially relevant are the Galician surnames originated from medieval patronymics, present in local documentation since the 9th century, and popularized from the 12th century on. Although many of them have been historically adapted into Spanish orthography, phonetics and traditions, many are still characteristically Galician; most common ones are:
- Alonso (medieval form Afonso, from the Germanic name Adefonsus): Spanish 'Alfonso', 'Alonso'.
- Álvarez (from médieval Alvares, from the Germanic name Alvarus).
- Ares (from the name Arias'): Spanish 'Arias'.
- Bermúdez (medieval form Vermues, from the Germanic name Veremodus + suffix -ici-).
- Bernárdez (from the Frankish name Bernard + suffix -ici-).
- Vieitez, Vieites (from the name Bieito, from Latin Benedictus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Benítez'.
- Diz, Díaz (from the name Didacus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Díaz'.
- Domínguez (medieval form Domingues, derived of the name Domingo, from Dominicus, + suffix -ici-).
- Enríquez (medieval form Anrriques, from the Frankish name Henric + suffiz -ici-).
- Estévez (medieval form Esteves, from the name Estevo, derived of Stephanus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Estébanez'.
- Fernández (medieval form Fernandes, from the name Fernando, derived from the Germanic name Fredenandus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Hernández'.
- Froiz (medieval form Froaz, from the Germanic name Froila 'Lord' + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Flores'.
- García (medieval form Garçia, from the name Garcia).
- Giance (from the name Xian, old orthography Jiam, derived of Latin Iulianus + suffix -ici-), with no Spanish equivalent.
- Gómez (medieval form Gomes, from the name Gomes).
- González (medieval form Gonçalves, from the Germanic name Gundisalvus + suffix -ici-).
- López (medieval form Lopes, from the Latin nickname Lupus 'wolf').
- Lourenzo, Lorenzo (medieval form Lourenço, from tha Latin name Laurentius).
- Martínez, Martín, Martís (from the Latin name Martinus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Martínez'.
- Méndez (medieval form Meendes, from the name Mendo, from Menendus + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Menéndez', 'Méndez'.
- Miguéns (from the name Miguel, derived of Michael + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Miguélez'.
- Núñez (medieval form Nunes, derived from the name Nunnus + suffix -ici-).
- Paz, Paes, Pais (from the name Paio, derived from Pelagius + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Peláez'.
- Pérez (medieval form Peres, from the name Pero, derived of Petrus, + suffix -ici-).
- Raimúndez (from the Frankish name Raimund + suffix -ici-).
- Rodríguez (from the name Rodrigo, from the Gemanic form Rodericus + suffix -ici-).
- Rois (from the name Roi, nickname of Rodrigo + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Ruíz'.
- Sánchez (medieval form Sanches, from the name Sancho, derived from Latin Sanctius + suffix -ici-).
- Sueiro, Suárez (medieval forms Sueiro, Suares, from the name Suarius, with and without suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Suárez'.
- Vázquez (medieval form Vasques, from the name Vasco, from Velasco, + suffix -ici-): Spanish 'Velázquez'.
- Yanes (medieval forms Eanes, Ianes. from Iohannes, Yohannes + suffix -ici-): Spanish Eáñes 'Yañez'.
Galician Given names and nicknames
Some common Galician names are:- Afonso [m] (Spanish Alfonso): nicknames Fonso, Pocho.
- Alberte [m] Alberta [f] (Spanish Alberto): Berto, Berta.
- Alexandre [m] (Spanish Alejandro): Xandre, Álex.
- Anxo [m] (Spanish Ángel): Xeluco.
- Antón [m](Spanish Antonio): Tonecho.
- Baldomero [m]: Mero
- Brais [m] (Spanish Blas)
- Breogán [m] (with no Spanish equivalent).
- Carme [f] (Spanish Carmen): Mela, Carmela.
- Catarina [f] (Spanish Catalina): Cata, Catuxa.
- Edelmiro, Delmiro [m]: Edel, Miro.
- Francisco [m]: Farruco, Fran.
- Lois [m] (Spanish Luis)
- María [f]: Maruxa, Marica.
- Manuel, Manoel [m] (Spanish Manuel): Lolo.
- Olalla, Baia [f] (Spanish Eulalia, Olaya)
- Roi [m] (Spanish Ruy)
- Tareixa [m] (Spanish Teresa)
- Uxío [m] Uxía [f] (Spanish Eugenio, Eugenia)
- Xacobe, Iago [m] (Spanish Jacobo, Yago)
- Xaquín [m] (Spanish Joaquín): Xocas.
- Xoán, Xan [m] (Spanish Juan)
- Xosé [m] (Spanish José): Che, Pepe.
- Xurxo [m] (Spanish Jorge)
Ceuta and Melilla
As the provincial Surname distribution map (above) indicates, MohamedMuhammad (name)
Muhammad was a prophet and an Arabic religious and political leader who preached and established Islam.Muhammad may also refer to:*Muhammad , listing people with the given name or surname Muhammad...
is an often-occurring surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
in the autonomous Mediterranean North African cities of Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
and Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
(respectively registered 10,410 and 7,982 occurrences), due to immigration from Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. Hispanophone
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Muslims use the Spanish "Mohamed" spelling for “Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
”. As such, it is often a component of Arabic name
Arabic name
Long ago, Arabic names were based on a long naming system; most Arabs did not simply have given/middle/family names, but a full chain of names. This system was in use throughout the Arab world. Today however, Arabic names are similar in structure to those of Modern and Western names...
s for men; hence, many Ceutan and Melillan Muslims share surnames despite not sharing a common ancestry. Furthermore, Mohamed (Muhammad) is the most popular name for new-born boys, thus it is not unusual to encounter a man named Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed: the first occurrence is the name, the second occurrence is the paternal surname, and the third occurrence is the maternal surname.
See also
- Nobility particle
- List of personal naming conventions (for other languages)
- NameNameA name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...
for general coverage of the topic - Portuguese names
- French names
- Gitano surnames
- Basque surnamesBasque surnamesBasque surnames on the whole are easily identifiable, reasonably well documented and follow a small number of set patterns. The vast majority of all Basque surnames are not patronymic , or based on personal features but refer to the family's etxea, the historically all important family home.When a...
- Hispanic American naming customs
External links
Hispanic Heraldry – Information about Hispanic surnames.Nombres de Niñas – List of names in Spanish, with list of most popular names.Catalan Society of Heraldry – Information about Catalan surnames.- Territorial distribution of surnames (Data from the Register on 1 January 2006) and several ExcelMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
tables about name and surname distribution by age and province, from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)The National Institute of Statistics is the official organisation in Spain that collects statistics about demography, economy, and Spanish society. Every 10 years, this organisation conducts a national census. The last census took place in 2001....
.