![]() ![]() ![]() It is common in Spanish language cultures to have two surnames. Two Surnames in the Spanish-Speaking World Here are some common Spanish surnames, their origins, and their meanings. Since most Spanish surnames can be traced back to Ancient Rome and the Visigoth invasions of it, this may mean being able to trace your family back pretty far, as long as you can find the written records. ![]() Knowing how they were formed, and their meanings, can give you clues to your Spanish ancestry that may help you further your research, and take those lines back farther in time. These surnames are very common in Europe, North America, Central America, and South America, and have a varied and storied history behind them. Thus, when filing the last name, a Maria del Prada is listed as Del Prada, Maria.If you have Spanish ancestry, you will almost certainly come across one or more Spanish surnames during the course of your genealogy research. On the other hand, if the surname begins with Del, the surname is capitalized and used with the last name alone. This is also the same rule that applies to names with the prefix dela, de la, delos, and de los. Spanish last names manual#In the case of Miguel de Cervantes, if we want to alphabetize and file him in a list of names The Chicago Manual of Style and Spanish naming customs say that he should be filed as "Cervantes, Miguel de" because the Spanish de is not used before the last name when it stands alone. Otherwise, and as is mostly the case, we must follow the rules governing name alphabetization in the name's country of origin. However, according to The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.): “In alphabetizing family names containing particles, the indexer must consider the individual’s personal preference (if known) as well as traditional and national usages.” So it follows that if a person writes his or her name in a certain way then we alphabetize as the person concerned wants it. Many people from the English-speaking world consistently treat surnames with a prefix the same as any other surname or treat surnames with spaces as if it were one word. ![]() However, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of the famous work Don Quixote, is always known and filed under Cervantes and never de Cervantes.īecause majority of surnames in the Philippines with a particle are of Hispanic origin then we will concentrate on the rules of alphabetizing Spanish surnames. If we pick out popular surnames in history and the arts we know that President Charles de Gaulle of France is always known and listed as "de Gaulle", while famous composer Ludvig van Beethoven is only known as Beethoven. The truth is, alphabetizing surnames does not always follow the same rules. The persons tasked to come up with the list had to alphabetize tens of thousands of family names and without the aid of modern technology they were obviously bound to alphabetize the names incorrectly here and there.Īnother common question I usually get asked is: how do we alphabetize surnames that have particles before them? How do we arrange surnames such as de los Reyes, Lasso de la Vega, de Veyra, and others like them that sometimes confuse people when trying to put them in a list with other surnames? This imperfect alphabetization of the list of surnames in the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos is understandable. Whenever somebody asks me to look into the Catalogo and see if their surname is listed I sometimes find family names placed elsewhere in the page or in another page even when the rules of alphabetizing say otherwise. ![]()
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