Spanish name

Spanish names: Most common family name by province

The concentrations of certain Spanish surnames in each province: Proportion of the population with the ten most frequently mentioned surnames for each province. (Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística 2006)

This article about Spanish names addresses the in speaking Spanish World customary pre- and surname and its dissemination as well as the applied there basic customs and rules of naming names and leadership of people .

Basic information on naming and usage

A Spanish personal name consists of one or more first names , nombre ("name") or nombre de pila (literally " baptismal name "), and usually two surnames , so-called apellidos (literally "first name"). The two-part surname, which is also called apellido ("first name"), is composed of the father's name ( patronymic ) and the mother's name (matronymic). Both names are put together without a hyphen , in civil and occasionally in very formal use they are also connected with the conjunction y (“and”), which is actually a predicate of nobility .

The neutral and formal salutation is used for women and men equally with "Señora" (woman) or "Señor" (man) plus the first surname. In Spain, however, the first name with a prefixed “Doña” (woman) or “ Don ” (man) is used more often as a courtesy address . This is also common in written, especially official use, whereby the first name can be followed by the last name. In other Spanish-speaking countries, the address with Don plus first name (and possibly surname) is still common (for example in Chile ), but elsewhere (for example in Venezuela ) it is perceived as Hispanicism or as too aristocratic . In some Latin American countries, especially Mexico , only the equalizing salutation with "citizen" or "citizen" ( ciudadano / -a ) plus first and last name is used instead of the salutations "Mr." and "Ms.", especially in official use .

Only one last name is used in everyday life, usually the first. People whose first surname is very common are referred to by their second surname for better distinction (for example, the former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero ). This custom also applies to citation rules in scientific usage and is also used in foreign-language (German, English) publications for authors with Spanish names. In formal correspondence and in official matters, both parts of the name are always used in the correct order.

Up until a few years ago, the first surname in Spain was the first surname of the father (patronymic), which continues his paternal lineage, and the second surname was the mother's first surname , which indicates her paternal descent. However, following a change in the law in 1999, Spanish parents are now free to choose the order. Since then, adults can also apply for a change in the order subsequently in Spain. With a change in an administrative regulation in June 2017, the express choice of parents became the rule, so that the tacit continuation of patrilineal surname transmission in Spain is now excluded.

The names lead in the Spanish-speaking world is from changes in family status as largely independent. The two-part surname is usually individual and unchangeable, so spouses keep their maiden name after marriage; there is no common family name for married couples and their children. However, in many countries the spouse's first surname can be followed by a de (“von”) after their own first surname . Such marriage names are common for wives in much of Latin America , but seem out of date in Spain even today.

Given names, nombres de pila

Female first names

The most common female first name is María . More than a quarter of the female population in Spain has this first name in some form. It commemorates Mary , the mother of Jesus , who is especially venerated as Mother of God in Roman Catholic Christianity. The name María is usually a Marie titles connected or nickname, so most carriers not easy for Mary, but after a certain Marian invocation or a particular grace or sanctuary are named. Typical examples are María de los Ángeles ( Our Lady of the Angels ), María de la Anunciación (after the Annunciation of the Lord ), María del Carmen (after Our Lady of Mount Carmel ), María de la Concepción ( Mary's Conception ), María del Consuelo ( Comforter of the Afflicted ), María de los Dolores (after the Mater Dolorosa ), María Inmaculada ( Immaculate Conception ), María de los Mercedes ( Mary of the Redemption of the Prisoners ), María del Montserrat ( Our Lady of Montserrat ), María del Pilar ( Our Lady on the Pillar ), María del Rosario ( Our Lady of the Rosary ), more recently also María de Lourdes or María de Fátima (after the Marian apparitions in Lourdes and Fátima ). As a first name, María is predominantly not used , but the respective addition (i.e. Carmen, Dolores, Pilar, Lourdes , etc.). The epithets are therefore given as separate first names today. As of January 1, 2017, around 660,000 girls and women in Spain had the compound name María (del) Carmen , but around 400,000 also had the single name Carmen . In some cases, the sole naming predominates, as in the case of the name Consuelo , which is common in South America and is very often used without the component María .

A noticeable feature is that many female first names in Spanish consist of a grammatically masculine noun , in addition to names such as Consuelo ("consolation"), Pilar ("column") or Rosario ("rosary"), for example the name Sagrario (" Tabernacle ”). Like other common (but grammatically feminine) women's names, e.g. B. Encarnación (" Incarnation ") or Asunción (" Assumption of Mary "), all these names denote Catholic secrets , are only given to girls and have no male counterpart.

The ten most common female first names are (as of January 1, 2017):

Exact name (single name or specific name combination )			Single name (used as a single name or as part of a name combination )
Surname	frequency		Surname	frequency
	absolutely	relative (in ‰)		absolutely	relative (in ‰)
Maria Carmen	660.635	27.8	Maria	6,224,392	262.2
Maria	615.061	25.9	Carmen	1,214,987	51.2
Carmen	399,758	16.8	Ana	807.345	34.0
Josefa	283,952	12.0	Isabel	669.212	28.2
Ana María	274,399	11.6	Dolores	497.066	20.9
Isabel	271.166	11.4	Pilar	465.087	19.6
Maria Pilar	264,633	11.1	Teresa	418,928	17.6
Maria Dolores	261,367	11.0	Josefa	406.772	17.1
Laura	255.616	10.8	pink	400,862	16.9
Maria Teresa	253.198	10.7	Cristina	332.177	14.0

The ten most popular names for newborns in 2015 were in Spain (in that order): Lucía, María, Martina, Paula, Sofía, Daniela, Alba, Julia, Carla, Sara.

Male first names

Among the male first names in Spain, the equivalents of Josef ( Spanish : José; Catalan : Josep; Galician : Xosé; Basque: Joseba) occur most frequently. About 13% of the male population has this name (about a quarter of it alone, the rest as part of a multi-part given name, e.g. José Antonio, José Luis, etc.).

Exact name (single name or specific name combination )			Single name (used as a single name or as part of a name combination )
Surname	frequency		Surname	frequency
	absolutely	relative (in ‰)		absolutely	relative (in ‰)
Antonio	690,587	30.2	José	2,755,501	120.7
José	610.013	26.7	Antonio	1,450,216	63.5
Manuel	600.327	26.3	Juan	1,326,163	58.1
Francisco	509.403	22.3	Manuel	1,293,868	56.7
David	363,559	15.9	Francisco	1,168,544	51.2
Juan	353,879	15.5	Luis	820.603	35.9
José Antonio	312.257	13.7	Javier	744.402	32.6
Javier	305,475	13.4	Miguel	705.358	30.9
José Luis	296.162	13.0	Fishing rod	641.330	28.1
Daniel	293,609	12.9	Carlos	634.363	27.8

The ten most popular names for newborn males in 2015 were in Spain (in that order): Hugo, Daniel, Pablo, Martín, Alejandro, Adrián, Álvaro, David, Lucas, Mario.

Hypocoristics

Many Spanish first names have a short or nickname (hypocoristic) that is used in a familiar circle (e.g. among friends or within the family) and in some cases differs greatly from the actual name. These forms are often used in everyday life, but - unlike z. B. Heinz, Hans or Franz in German - rarely entered as first names. These forms of names and their usage can differ greatly between regions and in the various Spanish-speaking countries. Examples:

First name	Nickname / nickname	German equivalent
Antonio	Tuco, Toni, Toño	Anton, Toni
(María) Concepción	Concha, Conchi, Conchita
Consuelo	Chelo
(María) Dolores	Lola , loli
Enrique	Quique	Hein , Heinz
Federico	Quico, Kiko	Fritz
Felipa	Feli
Felipe	Pipe (Chile)	Fipps
Francisca	Cisca, Paca (diminutive Paquita), Curra (Andalusia)	Franzi
Francisco	Paco, Pancho, Curro (Andalusia), Quico, Kiko	Franz, Frank
Guillermo	Llermo, Yermo, Memo (in parts of Latin America)	Willi
Ignacio	Nacho	Ignaz
Jesus	Chucho, Chus
Joaquín	Chimo, quino	Achim, Jochen, Jockel
José	Pepe	Yup , Sepp
Josefa	Pepa	Fine, Finchen
José María	Chema, Josema	(Joseph Maria)
Juan José	Juanjo	Hajo (Hans-Josef)
Luis	Lucho (Chile)	Lutz
María José / María Josefa	Coté, Mai, Majo, Marijó
Maria Luisa	Meli
Maria Teresa	Maite , Mayte
Mercedes	Merche
(María) Montserrat	Montse
(María) Rosario	Charo
Sebastian	Chano, Seba, Tatán (Chile)	Wastl, Bastian , Sebi

Regional characteristics in Spain

There are distinctive regional peculiarities in the choice of first names, especially in those parts of the country with their own regional language . For example, in Catalonia and the Basque Country in 2011, only Catalan or Basque first names were in the first ten places for male newborns, some of which are the forms in the respective regional language (e.g. Catalan Martí instead of Spanish Martín or Basque Mikel instead of Spanish Miguel ).

Another phenomenon are the names going back to regional or local patrons. The female first name Montserrat, which goes back to the patron saint of Catalonia , occurs five times more frequently in this region than the Spanish average. The female name Candelaria (going back to the Virgin of Candelaria ) is 14 times more common in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife than the Spanish average.

At the request of the name bearer, the registrar will replace the Spanish first name with its equivalent in a regional language or vice versa. A person with the Spanish first name José can therefore request the renaming to Joseba ( Basque ), Josep ( Catalan ) or Xosé ( Galician ). For the surname there is basically no such claim under common Spanish law. For its management, however, personal civil law affiliation with one of the particular formal rights can be decisive, since some formal rights have their own civil status law and provide options or conversion options for the language area concerned.

Surname, apellidos

Naming

From the 11th century it became customary in Castile to record a surname in addition to the nickname of noble people. Initially, a patronymic was used as the surname, a well-known example is the Spanish national hero Rodrigo Díaz (" El Cid "), whose father was Diego ( Díaz = "son of Diego"). Such surnames were used indiscriminately for women and men, so was Rodrigo's wife Jimena Díaz , not because she was married to Rodrigo and would have taken his surname, but because her father's name happened to be Diego . The couple's only son was called Diego Rodríguez ( Rodríguez = "son of Rodrigo").

Today in Spain the following principles apply:

• All Spaniards have two surnames.
• When getting married, both spouses keep their last names, there is no common married name.
• Children (regardless of whether they are married or illegitimate) are usually given the first surname of the father and the first surname of the mother as their last name.

The order of these two names can now be freely determined in Spain, but was previously fixed. The tradition of the two surnames dates back to the 16th century and became mandatory with the Spanish Civil Status Act of 1870. The main aim of the system was to reduce confusion between people with the same first and last name.

Example:

• Grandfather (father): José García Pérez

• Grandmother (father): María Díaz González

• Father : Juan García Díaz

• Mother : María Álvarez Sánchez

• Son : Pedro García Álvarez

• Daughter : Carmen García Álvarez

Since 1999, parents can in Spain for the registration of their first child into the civil register ( Registro Civil jointly request) that their children not to lead the father in the first place the surname of the mother and in the traditional method. The first surname of the father becomes the second surname of the child. All other children of the same couple receive the same surname order as the first. If the parents did not request a change in the order of the surnames, it was previously the case that, as usual, the father's surname came first. Since June 2017 this automatism no longer applies, now parents have to make an explicit choice. If they cannot agree, the order has to be determined by the registrar since 2013, who has to be guided by the best interests of the child . When the child comes of age, he or she can request a change of order.

Since 2007 one has to adopt a double surname when naturalizing to Spain. This concerns citizens from countries in which only the name of one parent was passed on to the descendants. In the past, the abbreviation s / s ("sin segundo") was used in official lists of such persons after the sole surname to indicate that the person has no second surname. Such adjustments of foreign names to the Spanish naming conventions were also common in other Spanish-speaking countries. In the period between 1890 and 1914, numerous German military advisers, scientists and other German-Chileans who dealt with Chilean authorities were given a new surname made up of father's and mother's names. Accordingly, the well-known German military reformer Emil Körner was called Emilio Körner Henze in Chile ; Henze was his mother's maiden name .

All naming rules apply equally to illegitimate children, provided that paternity is recognized or established. In the past, if the father was unknown, the child was traditionally given the mother's first surname twice, so that people born “fatherless” were easily recognizable in social intercourse. As a result, people whose father and mother happened to have the same first surname sometimes changed their names in order not to be mistaken for "bastards" because of the duplicated name. Today, in most Spanish-speaking legal systems, a child with an unknown father is given the mother's two surnames.

Abroad, some Spaniards and Latin Americans combine their two surnames with a hyphen to avoid confusion with first names or middle names . There are also Spanish double names with a hyphen, which together form only one of the two parts of the name. For example, a former Spanish Justice Minister is called Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jiménez , with Ruiz-Gallardón being the first and Jiménez being the second surname.

It used to be common in Spain for married women, especially widows, to add the husband's first surname to their own patronymic with de (“von”), whereby the woman’s own maternal name (second surname) is usually omitted. In the example above, this would mean for the woman: María Álvarez de García . This practice has been preserved in numerous Latin American naming systems.

According to current Spanish law, an application can be made to prefix the first surname with a de , if this is also a common first name. The function of the particle here is to indicate where the last name begins (e.g. José de Martín González instead of José Martín González ). This regulation also goes back to old writing customs from the early modern period.

A y (“and”) can also be placed between the two surnames. This particle was and is always used in civil documents in Spain, but practically never used in everyday life outside the nobility . In contrast to Spanish names, this is also common for Catalan names in civil usage, so that in Catalan name spelling there is always an i (“and” in Catalan ) between the first and second surname.

The surname management is very similar in most Spanish-speaking countries; there are traditionally two surnames everywhere. An exception is Argentina , whose name law is influenced by Italian customs due to the strong Italian immigration and where the father's surname dominates. Similar naming systems also prevail in lusophone countries, with more than just two surnames (in Portugal a maximum of four) being used here.

Last names ending in -ez, -és, -iz, -az, -oz

Of the ten most common surnames in Spain in 2017, eight have the patronymic suffix -ez (the ten names are: García, Lóp ez , Pér ez , Gonzál ez , Sánch ez , Martín ez , Rodrígu ez , Fernánd ez , Góm ez , Martín ).

The original meaning of most Spanish surnames ending in -ez (an exception is e.g. Chávez) is “son of” ( patronymic ), a phenomenon similar to that of Nordic names such as Peter s or Peter sen . Thus, Pérez means "son of Pe (d) ro", Sánchez "son of Sancho", Álvarez "son of Álvaro" etc. Names with the ending -és, -iz, -az and -oz often have this function, e.g. . B. Garcés ("Son of García "), Ruiz ("Son of Ruy ", a short form for " Rodrigo "), like Díaz from Diego ( Tiago = Santiago = Jacob ), Muñoz from Muño etc.

The fact that these names are patronymic surnames is undisputed in science. However, there are various hypotheses about the exact origin. One says that the phenomenon dates back to the rule of the Visigoths on the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity . First names such as Rodrigo ( Roderich ) and his patronymic Rodríguez ("Roderich's son"), one of the most common Spanish surnames, come from Gothic .

Due to the rules for accenting in modern Spanish, such names have an acute accent on the stressed, usually penultimate syllable ( Díaz, Hernández, Rodríguez etc.), since according to today's stress rules, the last syllable would otherwise have to be stressed. If a name is derived from a name that is already irregularly stressed, the emphasis and accentuation from the original name is retained (e.g. Álvarez = "son of Álvaro ").

Most common surnames

The 14 most common surnames are all of patronymic origin (most of them end with -ez). They are in this order: García, González, Rodríguez, Fernández, López, Martínez, Sánchez, Pérez, Gómez, Martín, Jiménez, Ruiz, Hernández and Díaz. Over a third of the population of Spain has at least one of these names.

Surname of Basque origin

Unlike the Spanish (Castilian) surnames, the most common names of Basque origin are residence names , such as Agirre (Spanish spelling: Aguirre , meaning: field / open area) or Larrañaga ("threshing floor"). These are often composed of two or more components, e.g. B .: Goikoetxea (Spanish: Goicoechea , "upper house"), Etxebarria ( Echebarría , "new house"), Agirrezabal ( Aguirrezabal , "wide field"), Garmendia ("fern mountain"), Uriarte ("between the Cities "), Uribe (" lower town "), Uribelarrea (" pasture below the city "), Uribeetxebarria ( Uribeechebarría ," new house in the lower town ").

Expósito

In earlier times children of unknown origin who were found exposed were given the surname " Expósito " (translated: "exposed"). Since this surname is perceived as discriminatory, it can still be changed today under easier conditions. The Catalan equivalent is the surname Deulofeu (translated: "God made him").

Orthographic correction

On request, surnames entered incorrectly in the respective language must be replaced with the correct form. If you are registered with the Catalan surname Marti , you can request that it be changed to the spelling Martí (with an accent on the i). However, under common Spanish naming law, there is no entitlement to a translation of the surname into another Spanish official language, i.e. a replacement of the Spanish surname Martín with its Catalan version Martí or from Etxebarria (Basque: "new house") by Casanueva (Spanish: "new house ") or the other way around. Special regulations under formal law for certain historical areas have led to such name translations having been used for a long time.

literature

• Francisco de Cardenas y Allende: Escuela de genealogía; Heráldica y Nobiliaria. Apuntes de nobiliaria y nociones de genealogía y heráldica: Primer curso. (2nd ed.). Editorial Hidalguía, Madrid 1984, pp. 205-213, ISBN 978-84-00-05669-8 .
• Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent: Heráldica patronímica española y sus patronímicos compuestos: Ensayo heráldico de apellidos originados en los nombres. Editorial Hidalguía, Madrid 1976, ISBN 84-00-04279-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Uhl, Elke Uhl-Vetter: Business etiquette in Europe: appear confident in style, master manners. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 3-658-01030-4 , pp. 143-145.
2. ^ Ricardo Padrón: Spacious Word. Cartography, Literature, and Empire in Early Modern Spain. Chicago 2004, ISBN 0-226-64433-2 , p. XV.
3. ↑ Carola Frentzen: Mama's name is allowed up front. ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: heute.de (dpa report from June 18, 2017). Retrieved June 18, 2017. 
4. ↑ El Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Datos procedentes de la Estadística de Nacimientos 2015 (23 June 2016)
5. ↑ Mariela Sagel: Los apellidos compuestos. In: marielasagel.com. April 20, 2008, Retrieved December 28, 2012 (Spanish). 
6. ↑ Three million times "García": How Spain wants to revolutionize its surname. In: Stern , June 17, 2017, accessed September 27, 2017.
7. ↑ Spain changes naming rights upon acceptance of nationality. In: spanien-bilder.com. July 2007, accessed December 28, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Family name of the child according to foreign law. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), November 22, 2010, archived from the original on July 7, 2013 ; Retrieved December 28, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Family name of the child according to foreign law. (PDF) Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), November 22, 2010, accessed on March 29, 2017 .