The
Spanish System Of Last Names -
Its Use And Order
Submitted
by: José Casas y
Sánchez
pepecasas@prodigy.net.mx
For
time immemorial in Spain the
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 made 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,
lets see it trough 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
Paternal
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 8 last
names:
Casas-Castaños-Domenech-Echeverría-Tarrago-Bazosabal-Morera-Yspizua.
J.
Casas Mother’s 8 last
names:
Sánchez-Loaeza-Díaz-Escobedo-Gil-Caldelas-Barreiro-Ortiz
J.Casas
Paternal Grandparent’s 4
last names:
Grandfather:
Casas-Domenech-Tarrago-Morera
Grandmother:
Castaños-Echeverría-Basozabal-Yspizua
J.Casas
Maternal Grandparent’s 4
last names:
Grandfather:
Sánchez-Díaz-Gil-Barreiro
Grandmother:
Loaeza-Escobedo-Caldelas-Ortiz
J.Casas
Paternal Paternal
Great-grandparent’s 2 last
names
Great-grandfather:
Casas-Tarrago
Great-grandmother:
Domenech-Morera
J.Casas
Paternal Maternal
Great-grandparent’s 2 last
names
Great-grandfather:
Castaños-Basozabal
Great-grandmother:
Echeverría-Yspizua
J.Casas
Maternal Paternal
Great-grandparent’s 2 last
names
Great-grandfather:
Sánchez-Gil
Great-grandmother:
Díaz-Barreiro
J.Casas
Maternal-Maternal
Great-grandparent’s 2 last
names
Great-grandfather:
Loaeza-Caldelas
Great-grandmother:
Escobedo-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
loose 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
for ever 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 looses
her last names completely and
definitely when she marries, even
if she becomes a widow! And all
of this in a modern Liberal women
rights society!
An
interesting point to notice, is
that all of the 16 last names,
only the first,
“Casas”, is obtained
from the male line, the rest of
the 15 last names are derived
from the Female Line. This
denotes the importance of the
women last names in this
system.
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.
Conclusion;
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, 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.
Chapala,
Mexico 18th of April 2002
José Casas y
Sánchez
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2002 GFNEWS, a monthly
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