García

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The most common family names in Spain

García is a Spanish personal name. It is the most common surname in Spain and is very common throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The medieval first name , which was used historically until the 16th century , is no longer in use today.

Garcia without acute is the Portuguese spelling of the name and also common in historical, foreign or simplified spelling.

Background and story

Almost three million Spaniards have the name García in their compound surname , almost half of them in the first place. In the United States , the name ranks first among the most popular Hispanic surnames and the sixth most common surname of US residents, with approximately 1.2 million carriers, approximately 92% of whom identify as Hispanics . In Mexico, however, García occupies only second place in the list of the most common surnames, with more than 2.5 million father names, which is led by Hernández (with more than 3.5 million father names and 2.6 million mother names). Globally, García ranks fifth among the most common surnames in the world with over ten million namesake (ahead of González and Hernández in 6th and 7th position) and ranks first among western names (places 1 to 4 go to Chinese and Vietnamese Names ), well ahead of Smith (4 million, place 8), Smirnow (2.5 million, place 9) and Müller (1 million, place 10).

The derivation is still not clear. The name comes from the Kingdom of Navarre , which is why a Basque origin has often been assumed. The derivation from the Basque word hartz (" bear "), represented by Ramón Menéndez Pidal and Antonio Tovar , is now considered untenable. The assumption of a pre-Roman, for example Celtic or Iberian name origin, which is often associated with this , is only represented speculatively today. The relationship with the Basque word gazte ("young man") or gaztea (" young "), which has also been discussed for a long time, does raise phonetic difficulties, but according to the prevailing opinion it remains a viable working hypothesis. In this case, however, the name would not native Basque roots die but it would be a significant changing acquisition of the old French word garse ( " brat "), whose male counterpart gars in today's French word garçon (and Spanish names Garzón ) continues to live on act the Altgaskognischen in the Basque. According to current knowledge, the name probably came up in the 8th to 9th centuries in the Franconian Duchy of Gascogne , from where it came to Navarra and spread to Aragón , La Rioja and the area of ​​today's province of Burgos , the then county of Castile .

Common medieval spellings and variants of the name are Garcia , Garsia , Garsea , Garçea , Garsi , Garsimirus , Garseand , as a female name form also Garsinde , in Basque spellings Gartze, Gartzia, Gartzi ( Garci ) or Gastea , from which the Basque name Gasteiz of the city Vitoria is likely to be derived. The patronymic use of the name (meaning: "Son of Garcia" or "Son of Garci") goes back to the great popularity of the male given name in the leading strata of practically all Christian empires on the Pyrenees Peninsula. This coincided with the time when the custom of using patronyms as surnames became established in the nobility and lower nobility, which has been around since the 13th / 14th centuries. Century solidified into fixed family names. Genitive formations such as Garsias , Garsies or ( Latin ) Garsie were used as a patronymic . While the patronymic Garzeiz , modern Garcés , prevailed in Navarra , the name ultimately remained unchanged in patronymic usage in the other areas of the peninsula, which is also known from other common Spanish names such as Alonso or Aznar . The name possibly experienced an additional boost, which would explain the overweight compared to other patronyms that were also common in the Middle Ages, when numerous Moriscos and Conversos adopted surnames as inconspicuous as possible in the 15th and 16th centuries in order not to attract attention from society and to stick to name traditions indistinguishable from old Christians . To what extent this was a factor in the widespread use of the name García , or whether it was just a coincidence, is controversial.

The name form Garza with the coincident meaning " heron ", which is rare in Spain and mainly found in Madrid , Barcelona and Ourense , provides the heraldic symbol for the overall coat of arms name García (a heron bird) and is widespread in Mexico, especially in the Monterrey region.

Name bearer

First name and ruler's name

Surname carrier

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G

H

I.

J

K

L.

M.

N

O

P

R.

S.

T

U

V

W.

X

Y

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Emilio Sánchez Hidalgo: Los apellidos que significan "hijo de" en Europe. In: El País , July 17, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Mónica Arrizabalaga: ¿El fin de la hegemonía del apellido García? In: ABC , June 15, 2017, accessed November 2, 2019 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ García y González, los apellidos más frecuentes entre los españoles. In: El País , May 19, 2016, accessed November 2, 2019 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Los apellidos hispanos más populares en los Estados Unidos (EEUU). In: Mongabay , accessed November 2019 (data based on the United States Census 2010 ).
  5. ↑ ¿Cuáles son los apellidos más comunes en México? The INE lo revela en su padrón. In: Xataka , February 16, 2018, accessed November 17, 2019 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Los 10 apellidos más populares del mundo… ¿Está el tuyo? In: NNC.mx , March 1, 2012, accessed November 2, 2019 (Spanish).
  7. ↑ Xabier Kintana (Javier Quintana): Gartzia (Garzia, García) euskal deitura dela eta. Royal Academy of the Basque Language (Euskaltzindia), online publication, Bilbao, as of May 6, 2014 (Basque).
  8. ^ A b Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo: Antroponimia medieval galega (ss. VIII – XII). Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-484-55512-2 , p. 233 f. (Galegic, limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ a b c d Maëlys Letteron: Échanges transpyrénées dans les textes navarrais du Codex de Roda (VIII e –X e siècles). In: Sébastien Gasc, Philippe Sénac, Clément Venco, Carlos Laliena (eds.). Las fronteras pirenaicas en la Edad Media (signed VI-XV). Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, Saragossa 2018, ISBN 978-84-17633-15-8 , pp. 319–334 (French, limited preview in Google book search).
  10. ↑ Gartzea , in the encyclopedia of names of Euskaltzindia , accessed on November 4, 2019 (Spanish).
  11. ^ Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo: Antroponimia medieval galega (see VIII – XII). Tübingen 1999, p. 33.
  12. ^ Garza in Heráldica Valenciana. Instituto de Historia y Heráldica Familiar, in: Levante-EMV , accessed November 2019 (Spanish).
  13. ↑ Raúl Garza Chapa, María de los Ángeles Rojas-Alvarado, Ricardo M. Cerda Flores: Endogamia en las personas con apellidos mono y polifiléticos de Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, estimado con base en el directorio telefónico. In: Estudios de Antropología Biológica ( UNAM ), Vol. 5 (1995), pp. 243-255 (here: pp. 245 f.) (Online) .