Currently, it is unthinkable to lack a surname, since it is par excellence what distinguishes people (beyond their personality or physical appearance). We can say Leo and think of the actor Di Caprio or Sbaraglia, but when we say “Messi” no further clarification is necessary; like when we read something about Gardel. In those cases, they have their own weight even if they are not the only bearers of those surnames.
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, this is how it is defined “family name with which people are distinguished” which comes from the Latin word appellitāre, which derives from “appellare”, which means to call or proclaim.
Although we have been naturalized to their existence for centuries, they were not always there, but in ancient times, people only had one name, but with the growth of populations – especially among those closest to each other -, confusion occurred when referring to a person and that made it necessary for them to be accompanied with a brief description of the distinctive area or trade. Although it started in the East, its validity began in the West. Since then, the surname is one of the personal brands that speak of a common past and future.
In Argentina, according to a report from the National Registry of Persons (Renaper) from 2022, 79% of the population has the same last name as 500 or more people.
Modern series and Hollywood movies have made the great biblical characters known beyond those who profess religions.
Characters from the Old and New Testaments were known by name and no one doubted who he was referring to: Abraham, Moses, Peter, John, Matthew, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, for example. There was no Abraham Pérez or José Delgado, for example.
Although the first use occurred in China (in the year 2850 BC) was in Europe That made its use official because during the Middle Ages the need to identify people arose, especially merchants or property owners in times when commercial operations were established. In the initial stage, it was used only by members of the upper classes.
“Over time, the communities became more and more populated, and doubts arose,” explains museologist Beatriz Genchi and exemplifies:
—Take this message to Juan.
—Which Juan?—asked the messenger.
—Juan, the “from the valley”—he explained to distinguish him from the other Juan, the “from the mountain.”
According to his research, “the surnames del Valle and del Monte, so common today, arose as a result of the place where these people lived,” he says when referring to those called “place-name surnames”, arising from toponymy or geographical onomastics. This discipline consists of the registration, cataloging and etymological study of the proper names of a place.
Surnames belong to that same category. Stream, Canals, Coast, Caves, Rock, Prado, Riverawhich refer to some geographical accident and Ávila, Burgos, Logroño, Madrid, Toledo that come from Spanish cities.
For the cultural manager and plastic artist from Bahía Blanca, other surnames originated thanks to some architectural peculiarity with which a person was related. “If your ancestor lived near several towers, or steps from some fountains, or behind a church, or across a bridge, or he owned several palaces,” she describes how surnames arise. Towers, Fountains, Churches, Bridges and Palaces.
He too job of the ancestors were the mark to give them origin. “Maybe he raised lambs, harvested apples or had a cattle farm,” they say in reference to surnames. Lamb, Manzanero and Bull. The same happens with those that emerged during the Middle Ages in Europe (such as Farmer, Shepherd, Monk, Blacksmith, Weaver, Servant or Cowboy) in reference to trades, some hereditary within the family nucleus, which facilitated the identification of a certain family. At that time, grammatical constructions such as “José, the Fishmonger” were used; “José, el Delgado” or “José, Rodrigo’s son”, which would become “José Rodríguez”.
In the case of the Romans, who had 3 names, they used a method made up of three denominations, the “Payroll Trio”: a praenomen (the equivalent of the first name), a nomen (gentle name that indicates membership in the gens, equivalent to the surname) and a cognonem (which was linked to some physical or mental characteristic of the person or one of their ancestors, and which became hereditary through the paternal line). Examples: the emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, his name was “Gaius”, he belonged to the “Caesar” group and was from the “Julius” family.
“Another way of creating surnames was based on some physical characteristic, or a trait of your personality or marital status. If he was not married, then he was Single; If he wasn’t fat, he was Slim; If she didn’t have hair, she was Bald; If her hair wasn’t brown, it was Blond; If he wasn’t white, he was Dark; If she had a good sense of humor, it was Happiness; If he was educated, he was Cuts”, he expands in his research Last names since when?published by Pirámide Informativa.
The last names toponyms refer to places (villages, towns, cities, provinces, regions, countries) and are associated with demonyms to designate the origin of a specific family such as Ávila, Borobia, Tudela, Spain, Aragón, Barcelona, Lérida, Toledo, Valencia, Segovia, Villar/ Vilar (small town, village), Padrón, Montilla, Carranza, among others.
Of all the origins, perhaps the most curious is that of the surnames that end in “ez”, such as Rodríguez, Martínez, Jiménez. “The origin is very simple: -ez means ‘son of’. Therefore, González is because some ancestor was the son of a Gonzalo; Rodríguez was Rodrigo’s son; Martínez de Martín; Jiménez de Jimeno; Sánchez de Sancho; Álvarez de Álvaro; Benítez de Benito; Domínguez de Domingo”, lists within a more extensive list of those that emerged in Europe.
In Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela, the most common surname is González.
The same happens with surnames in other languages: Johnson is the son of John in English (John-son); MacArthur is the son of Arthur, in Scots; Martini is Martin’s son in Italian.
“This is how, little by little, during the Middle Ages, surnames began to emerge, with the purpose of differentiating one person from the other. Over time, these surnames took on a hereditary character and were passed from generation to generation with the purpose of identifying not only individuals, but families,” explains the specialist.
Already into the 20th century, surnames began to be translated or their original meanings modified. Added to this is that immigration caused, in some cases, the original writing to be altered.
In addition to the characteristics mentioned to form the surnames, the names of the flora, fauna or peculiarities of a region in which the bearer lived were used, but there were others related to historical stages.
Some are rooted in the influence of Inquisition and they are compound surnames such as San Basilio, San Juan, San Martín, Santamaría, Santana, Santángelo, Santiago or in general those that begin with San, Santa or Santo, Santos, Santi and Santis, were born, among others, emerged when the Sephardic people, Moors, gypsies and other ethnic groups had to flee and change their surnames using these compounds.
There are also the Castilianized: They are those who, although not of Hispanic origin, do have Castilian influence. These were grammatically transformed into Spanish phonetics. It commonly happened with foreigners living in Spain or Latin America; with some of indigenous origin from America, others were cases in which there was similarity of languages such as Branco, from Blanco or Freixeiro (from the town of Fresno).
Regarding Jewish surnames, the genealogist Manuel Trujillo Berges wrote: “For some, all surnames of a toponymic or demonym type are surnames of Jewish origin, for others all surnames of a patronymic type, for others all those that refer to a trade, For others, all those that carry a saint’s name or Marian devotion and for others, they are all those related to plants and animals. Come on, according to these urban legends, obviously all of them false, practically each and every surname in Spain is of Jewish origin.”
Currently, in Latin America, the González surname is the most registered in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela.
According to a study carried out in 2021 by the National Population Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, in Argentina There are 348,288 different surnames and the ten most popular are González, Rodríguez, Gomez, Fernandez, Lopez, Martinez, Diaz, Perez, Sanchez and Rosemary. Most of the predominant surnames have Spanish origin, although in some provinces the Reed, in Catamarca, Castro In San Juan, Mommy in Jujuy; and bright Star in St. Louis.
Among the surnames of immigrants, the majority of them with the surname González were born in Paraguay (the most frequent surname, among non-natives, in CABA, and the provinces of Buenos Aires, Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa, Misiones and Santa Fe); while those with the last name Flores or Mamani did so in Bolivia (more common, among non-natives, in Catamarca, Salta, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza and Tucumán). In most of the Patagonian provinces, for people not born in the country, the most frequent surnames are González and Vargas, and they were born in Chile.
Furthermore, traditionally, only the paternal surname was used and not the maternal one, but the bill promoted in 2006 standardized this particularity to what was already happening in the rest of the Hispanic nations. However, the Civil and Commercial Code established the use of a single surname (of either parent) and optionally that of the other member of the couple.
