CINCO DE MAYO SPECIAL The 5th of May is celebrated in the United States among its Mexican- American population, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. For history and more information about Cinco de Mayo see: http://www.nacnet.org/assunta/spa5may.htm (in Spanish and English) http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm RootsWeb hosts the GEN-HISPANIC Mailing List, which is gatewayed with the soc.genealogy.hispanic newsgroup for the discussion of Hispanic genealogy. Subscribe (join) this mailing list, search, and browse its archives at: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/ESP/GEN-HISPANIC.html The Hispanic Message Board is here: [Note: 2-line URL]: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p= topics.ethnic.hispanic Or at this page: http://boards.rootsweb.com/ in the "Find a Message Board" window type in word HISPANIC. Then click on the GO! button. * * * Learning the Spanish System of Surnames By José Casas y Sánchez [email protected] Chapala, Mexico For time immemorial in Spain the Catholic church and the civil Government (since the middle of the 19th century), have been using the same system for registering and ordering the last names of a given individual, its use extending to Latin America, since the Colonial Days. The high number of last names a person may use, four, eight or more, does not make that person an aristocrat or more elegant or a member of the nobility, it only shows that the ancestors are known to that family or that individual in particular -- it is basic genealogy. In the titled families these records are very carefully kept and most of the nobility knows by heart the cadency of their "illustrious" last names. As most of us are Catholic, we have been baptized in our local parishes and also have been registered in the Civil Registry offices of our towns or cities, and both, the baptism certificate and the civil birth certificate, clearly states the two last names of father and mother and sometimes also the two last names of the four grandparents, that is, if the priest of that particular parish or the civil servant of the registry office was more or less educated and did not make a mistake during the registry of the names. In the larger parishes of the cities, like cathedrals or basilicas, the errors were much less frequent than in the small town parishes, so if you are lucky, in your baptism certificate you have your first eight last names. You only need to get the baptism or civil certificate of your four grandparents, and with much luck, Bingo! You have your 16 last names. The system is simplicity in itself, let's see it through a living example, this way it will be easier to understand: I have 16 last names, which are: Casas-Sánchez-Castaños-Loaeza-Domenech-Díaz-Echeverría-Escobedo-Tarrago- Gil-Morera-Barreiro-Bazosabal-Caldelas-Yspizua-Ortiz The order or cadency of the last names goes by relationship: 1-Father ........................... Casas 2-Mother ........................... Sánchez 3-Paternal Grandmother ............. Castaños 4-Maternal Grandmother ............. Loaeza 5-Paternal Maternal Grandmother .... Domenech 6-Maternal Maternal Grandmother .... Díaz And so on. How did I get my 16 last names? Examining the baptism and the civil certificates of each and everyone of my ancestors, that is, beginning with father, then mother and so on, I wrote down all of their last names, then to follow the correct order or cadency of the mentioned last names one has to intercalate them, male-father, female-mother, male- grandfather, female-grandmother, etc. The certificates showed the following: J. Casas father's eight last names: Casas-Castaños-Domenech-Echeverría-Tarrago-Bazosabal-Morera-Yspizua. J. Casas mother's eight last names: Sánchez-Loaeza-Díaz-Escobedo-Gil-Caldelas-Barreiro-Ortiz This system is logical, practical, simple and effective, it is less hard to make mistakes when investigating the family history, doing genealogical research and quartering the blazons in family heraldry. One of the most important aspects in the Spanish system for last names is that the women never, ever lose their last names. They have exactly the same last names of their brothers. When the woman marries she only adds the last name or names of her husband, for example: My wife's name is Ana East Sans, when she married me, she became: Ana East Sans de Casas, (of) for practical reasons she only uses Ana East de Casas, if she was a widow, (not yet) she would be: Ana East viuda de Casas, (widow of) if she was divorced (not yet) she would return to use her original name Ana East Sans. This system allows the woman to keep forever her last names, I think is very fair and logical, it is hard for us to understand the American or British system that dictates that the woman loses her last name completely and definitely when she marries, even if she becomes a widow. And all of this in a modern liberal women's rights society! Another important point is that by law, we have to use our first two last names always when legal documentation is involved or when signing legal affairs or writing bank checks of a certain amount above a limit, etc. etc. The custom of always of using our two first last names is quite practical. This way we can differentiate as to our father or son when the first or Christian name is the same, this way we do not use the "Jr." Some people, (man or woman) use their second Christian name, this is quite common, in official documents it is obligatory to use it, that is, if one has the names registered in the official birth certificate. You will find in some, not very common cases the letter "y" between the two last names, this is done in order to separate the two last names, (father and mother) and not to confuse a double last name that is composed of two words. In English this is done using a hyphen. One thing to remember and perhaps to learn, is how to address an Hispanic person, by word or in writing, the rule is to always address the person in question by their first last name, never by the second. When in doubt, address the person by using both names. Lots of people, educated ones, but ignorant of our system keep addressing me as Mr. Sanchez, when I am Mr. Casas, or Mr. Casas y Sanchez. But, when I must correct the person that makes this involuntary error, I always try do it in a diplomatic way in order not to hurt feelings.