Spanish naming customs: Difference between revisions

Spanish naming customs denote the two-surname personal appellation practised in Hispanophone societies; the first surname is paternal, the second surname is maternal. When informally referring to, or addressing, a person, the practice is using his or her name and the paternal surname; however the maternal surname is used in documents and formal matters. Most of the Spanish usage, herein, applies to most Hispanophone countries.

Spanish naming system

In Spain, people bear a name — either simple Juan (John) or composite Juan Pablo (John Paul) — and two surnames. Traditionally, a person’s first surname is the paternal surname (apellido paterno), the father’s first surname, and the second surname is the maternal surname (apellido materno), the mother's first surname; however, contemporary, gender equality law allows surname transposition — subject to the condition that every child must bear that surname order. Therefore, José Antonio Calderón Iglesias is addressed as Señor Calderón (Mr Calderón), not Señor Iglesias (Mr Iglesias), because Calderón is his paternal surname, not a middle name. Moreover, he might informally be addressed as (i) José Antonio (Joseph Anthony), (ii) José (Joseph), (iii) Pepe, and as either Antonio (Anthony) or Toño (Tony). In the reductive US naming custom, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphenate their surnames, to avoid Anglophone confusion, thus: Mr. José Antonio Calderón-Iglesias; moreover, hyphenated (–) surnames, such as Súarez-Llanos, do not indicate nobility. Furthermore, Spanish naming custom does not comprehend the Anglophone middle name concept.

Names

In Spain, parents choose the name of their child, which must be recorded to the Registro Civil (Civil Registry). Earlier, the Roman Catholic custom allowed the priest to name the child at baptism, now a discontinued cultual practice. With few restrictions, parents can choose any name honouring a relative, living or dead; a common source was the nomina (nominal register) of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, and traditional Spanish names. In that tradition, right-wing legislation in Spain under Franco, Videlan Argentina, and Chile under Pinochet culturally limited naming customs to only Christian (Jesus, Mary, Joseph, et al.) and Classical (Cæsar, Augustus, et al.) names, thus often requiring that an immigrant assume the approximate Spanish equivalent, hence the Polish “Władysław” became “Walter”. Contemporarily, the only Spanish naming custom limitation was the dignity of the child, who cannot be given a name insulting either to him or her, or to the public. Like limitations applied against diminutive, familiar, and colloquial variants not recognized in their own right, or "those that lead to confusion regarding sex"; however, the current Ley 3/2007: Identidad de género (Law 3/2007: Gendre Identity) allows registration of diminutive names.

Spanish provincial surname concentrations: The populace percentages born with the ten most-common surnames. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain) 2006

María and José

Catholic girls often were named after the Virgin Mary, either by appending a shrine place-name or a religious concept. In quotidian life, such women omit the cumbersome "Mary of the . . ." nominal prefix, and use the suffix portion of their composite names as public identity, excepting in formal and documentaery matters. Hence, women bearing the Marian names María de los Ángeles (Mary of the Angels), María del Pilar (Mary of the Pillar), and María de la Luz (Mary of the Light), are normally addressed as Ángeles (Angels), Pilar (Pillar), and Luz (Light); however, each might be informally addressed as María (Mary). Like-wise, a boy’s formal name might include María, when preceded by a masculine name, e.g. José María Aznar (Joseph Mary Aznar), conversely, a girl can be formally named María José (Mary Joseph), and informally named Marijosé (Mary Jo), so honouring Saint Joseph. Moreover, the name María is orthographically abbreviated as Ma. (José Ma. Aznar) and Mª (José Mª Morelos) in documents.

Registered names

The Registro Civil (Civil Registry) officially records a child’s identity as composed of a name (or a composite name) and the two surnames; however, a child can be baptized with several names, e.g. the Infanta Elena’s son, Felipe Juan Froilán de Todos los Santos; such namings usually are a royal family and nobility practice without legal sanction.

The maiden name

In Spanish marriage, the woman does not assume her husband’s surnames, because Spanish naming customs do not include the maiden name concept — thus, when Leocadia Blanco Álvarez marries Pedro Pérez Montilla, she retains her societal identity as Leocadia Blanco Álvarez. Chapter V, part 2 of Don Quixote (1605, 1615), wherein Teresa Panza reminds Sancho that, properly, she should be addressed as Teresa Cascajo, by her paternal surname, not her marital surname, to wit: "Teresa I was named in baptism, a clean and short name, without addings or embellishments, or furnishings of dons and dans; ‘Cascajo’ was my father; and I, as your wife, am called ‘Teresa Panza’, but laws are executed". 2, V

Surname distribution: The most common surnames, by residential Spanish province.

Surnames

Generational transmission

In Hispanophone cultures, a person usually is known and addressed by name and paternal surname; e.g. Real Madrid football team goalkeeper Iker Casillas Fernández is known as Iker Casillas, and his teammate Raúl González Blanco is known as Raúl González.

In the generational transmission of surnames, the paternal surname’s precedence eventually eliminates the maternal surnames from the family lineage, thus, contemporary law ensures gendre equality by allowing the maternal surname’s transposition to the first rank, yet most folk observe the traditional paternal–maternal surname order, hence the daughter and son of Ángela López Sáenz and Tomás Portillo Blanco would be denominated Laura Portillo López and Pedro Portillo López, yet also could be denominated Laura López Portillo and Pedro López Portillo; regardless of the surname order, all children must bear like-order surnames.

Paternal surname transmission was not always the norm, before the mid-eighteenth century, the name-paternal–maternal-surnames custom developed since the eighteenth century. Earlier, Hispanophone societies denominated children with the maternal surname, and, occasionally, gave children a grandparent’s surname (borne by neither parent) for prestige — “being gentry” — and profit, flattering the matriarch or patriarch in hope of inheriting land. As with Catalan names, the Spanish naming custom includes the orthographic option of conjoining the surnames with the conjunction particle y (“and"), e.g. José Ortega y Gasset and Tomás Portillo y Blanco, in the antique aristocratic custom.

In cases of bastardy — when a child’s father is unknown, or if he refuses to legally recognise his son or daughter — the child will bear the mother’s surnames, in reversed order; thus, if María López Sáenz bears a son, José, by such a man, the boy’s surnames would be Sáenz and López, hence he would be José Sáenz López. Occasionally, an uncommon maternal surname overshadows a common paternal surname, e.g. the artist Picasso (Pablo Ruiz Picasso), the poet Lorca (Federico García Lorca), and the politician Zapatero (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero). Conversely, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Hughes Galeano is known by (and as) Galeano (his maternal surname), because his British paternal surname "Hughes" is not Spanish, although, as a boy, he occasionally signed his name as Eduardo Gius, a Spanish-approximate pronunciation of "Hughes".

Another denominational occurrence is doubled surnames (maternal and paternal), ancestral composite surnames willed to the following generation — especially when the paternal surname is socially undistinguished, e.g. ex-mayor of Madrid José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro, whose name comprises a composite name (José María) and two composite surnames (Álvarez del Manzano and López del Hierro); other examples derive from church place-names such as San José (Saint Joseph), thus, when a person bears doubled surnames, the disambiguation is to insert the conjunction particle y (“and”) betwixt the paternal and maternal surnames.

Castilian and Álavan surnames

In the past, Basque surnames were commonly disrespected and “Hispanicised” with the patronymic and place-name particle de, denoting provenanace. Hence in the Basque name of José Ignacio López de Arriortúa — the López de Arriortúa surnames function as a single (composite) surname, despite Arriortúa being the the family’s original surname, and López denoting “child of Lope”. Such a usage might prove confusing, because the Spanish López and the Basque de Arriortúa are discrete surnames in their own rights. Moreover, in Spain and France, Basque people use Basque names and surnames, e.g. footballer Mikel Arteta Amatriaín, yet mixed Spanish-name and Basque-surname identities occur, e.g. the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar, the Mexican Emperor Agustín de Iturbide, the contemporary Colombian president Álvaro Uribe.

Filipino Spanish surnames

See also: Hispanic influence on Filipino culture and Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos

On 21 November 1849 the Spanish Governor General Narciso Clavería, decreed a systematic distribution of surnames and the implementation of the Spanish naming system for native Phillipines, thereby producing the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos ("Alphabetical Catalogue of Surnames") which collected the Spanish, Filipino, and Hispanicised Chinese words, names, and numbers for the world, flora, and fauna; thus why many Spanish-sounding Filipino surnames are not among the surnames of the Hispanophone world. Moreover, Spanish nobility and colonial administrator surnames were explicitly prohibited.

The colonial authorities implemented this decree mainly because too many early Christianized Filipinos named themselves after religious instruments and saints. Apparently, Christianization had worked much too well in that there were soon too many people surnamed "de los Santos", "de la Cruz", "del Rosario", "Bautista", etc. This caused consternation among the Spanish authorities, as it added difficulty to administration efforts.

Another custom deemed unacceptable by the Spanish, was that Filipino siblings took different last names, as they always had done before the Spaniards. All these practices led to difficulties in collecting taxes.

Because of the mass implementation of Spanish surnames and the Iberian naming system in the Philippines, among Filipinos a Spanish surname does not necessarily indicate Spanish ancestry. Filipinos with non-Spanish white American or European ancestry may have Spanish surnames and may be mistakenly thought to be of Spanish descent. Of the Philippine population.

Conjunctions

The particle “de”

See also: Spanish nobility

In Spain, the preposition particle de (“of”) is used as a conjunction in two noble surname spelling styles, and to disambiguate a surname; the first are patronymic and toponymic formulæ, e.g. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Pero López de Ayala, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa, as in many names of the conquistadors. Unlike in French, the Spanish spellings of surnames containing the prepositional particle de are ambiguous when no patronymic precedes it, an orthographic style common to noble surnames, thus, the lower-case spellings de la Rúa (“of the street") and de la Torre (“of the tower") and the upper-case spellings De la Rúa and De la Torre are equally correct.

• Without a patronymic: Álvaro de Bazán and Juan Carlos de Borbón. Unlike in French, Spanish orthography do not require a contraction when a vowel begins the surname, but *de el ("of the") becomes del.

• The exception: The current (1958) Spanish name law, Artículo 195 del Reglamento del Registro Civil (Article 195 of the Civil Registry Regulations) disallows a person’s prefixing the de particle to his or her surname, the exception being the clarifying addition of de to a surname that might be misunderstood as a name; thus, a child would be registered as Pedro de Miguel Jiménez, to avoid the surname Miguel mistaken as the second part of a composite name.

Moreover, nobility is determined by establishing whether or not a surname is associated with a blazon, because only a person of noble birth is entitled to a coat of arms. .

The particle "y"

In the sixteenth century, the Spanish adopted the copulative conjunction y (and) to distinguish a person’s surnames; thus the Andalusian Baroque writer Luis de Góngora y Argote (1561–1627), the Aragonese painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828), and the Madrilenian liberal philosopher José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955). In Hispanic America, this spelling convention was common to clergymen (e.g. Salvadoran Bishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), and sanctioned by the Ley de Registro Civil (Civil Registry Law) of 1870, requiring birth certificates indicating the paternal and maternal surnames conjoined with y — thus, Felipe González y Márquez and José María Aznar y López are the respective true names of the Spanish politicians Felipe González Márquez and José María Aznar López; however, unlike in Catalan, the Spanish usage is infrequent.

The conjunction y avoids denominational confusion when the paternal surname might appear to be a (first) name; hence the physiologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal might appear to be named Santiago Ramón (composite) and surnamed Cajal, like-wise the jurist Francisco Tomás y Valiente, and the cleric Vicente Enrique y Tarancón. Without the conjunction, the footballer Rafael Martín Vázquez, known as Martín Vázquez (his surnames) mistakenly appears to be named Martín rather than Rafael, whilst, to his annoyance, the linguist Fernando Lázaro Carreter occasionally is addressed as Don Lázaro, rather than as Fernando.

Moreover, when the maternal surname’s spelling begins (and sounds) with either the vowel I (Ibarra) or the vowel Y (Ybarra archaic spelling), Spanish euphony substitutes the softer-sounded conjunction e in place of the sharper-sounded conjunction y, thus the examples of the statesman Eduardo Dato e Iradier (1856–1921).

Denotations

To communicate a person’s social identity, Spanish naming customs provide othrographic means, such as suffix-letter abbreviations, surname spellings, and place names, which denote and connote the person’s place in society.

Identity and descent

h. (son of): A man named like his father, might append the lower-case suffix h. (denoting hijo, son) to his surname, thus distinguishing himself, Juan Valdéz Marcos, h., from his father, Juan Valdéz Marcos; the English analogue is “Jr.” (son).

–ez: Spanish surnames ending in -ez originated as patronymics denoting “the son of” — Álvarez (son of Álvaro), Fernández (son of Fernando), González (son of Gonzalo), Hernández (son of Hernando), López (son of Lope), Martínez (son of Martín), Ramírez (son of Ramiro), Rodríguez (son of Rodrigo), and Sánchez (son of Sancho) — yet not every such surname was patronymic, because, in parts of Andalusia, the Spanish-language letters z and s are pronounced alike. In Hispano American Spanish, the -ez spellings of Chávez (Hugo Chávez) and Cortez (Alberto Cortez) are not patronymic surnames, because the Iberian Spanish spelling is with -es, as in the names of Manuel Chaves González and Hernán Cortés.

Foundlings

Anonymous foundlings were a naming problem for civil registrars, but such anonymous children often were named for the saint whose day it was when he or she appeared at the Registro Civil (Civil Registry), if not, they might be named toponymically, after the town, itself. Moreover, they also often were surnamed Expósito (Lat. exposĭtus, exposed, connoting “foundling”), which marked them, and their descendants, as of low caste and social class, people without social pedigree. In the Catalan language the surname Deulofeu (“God made it”) was usually given to foundlings. In 1921 Spanish law allowed the surname Expósito to be changed free. Because most foundlings were reared in church orphanages, said children often bore the surnames Iglesia (church), Iglesias (churches), Cruz (cross), and Blanco (“white” connoting “blank”). Moreover, to facilitate naming anonymous foundlings, places such as Bilbao named them Bilbao, like-wise in Vizcaya (Biscay) and Alava; the second surname usually was either Iglesia or Cruz.

Foreign citizens

In Spain, legal and illegal foreign immigrants retain use of their cultural naming customs, yet upon becoming Spanish citizens, they are legally obliged to assume Spanish-style names (a name and two surnames). If the nationalised person is from a one-surname culture, the actual surname is duplicated; therefore, the English name “George Albert Duran” becomes the Spanish name “George Albert Durán Durán”, yet the law optionally allows him to adopt his mother's maiden name (her surname), as his maternal (second) surname. Formally, Spanish naming customs conflate his name “George” and his middle-name “Albert” to the composite name “George Albert”, and his sole surname, “Duran”, is duplicated as his paternal and maternal surnames.

"Mohamed" as name and surname

As the provincial Surname distribution map (above) indicates, Mohamed is an oft-occurring surname; the autonomous Mediterranean North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla respectively registered 10,410 and 7,982 occurrences. Hispanophone Muslims use the Spanish "Mohamed" spelling for “Muhammad”, the Arabic word for the Name of Prophet. As such, it often is a component of Arabic names for men, hence, many Ceutan and Melillan Muslims share surnames despite not sharing a common ancestry. Furthermore, Mohamed (Muhammad) is the most popular name for new-born boys, thus it is not unusual to encounter a man named Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed: the first occurrence is the name, the second occurrence is the paternal surname, the third occurrence is the maternal surname.

Spanish hypocoristics and nicknames

Many Spanish names can be shortened into hypocoristic, affectionate "child-talk" forms using a diminutive suffix, especially -ito and -cito (masculine) and -ita and -cita. Sometimes longer than the person’s name, a nickname usually derives via linguistic rules. The usages vary by country and region; these are some usual names and their nicknames:

• Adelina = Deli
• Adelaida = Ade, Adela
• Adrián (Male) or Adriana (Female) = Adri
• Alberto = Alber, Albertito, Beto, Berto, Tico, Tuco
• Alejandro = Ale, Alex, Alejo, Jandro, Jano, Sandro
• Alejandra = Sandra, Ale, Alex, Aleja, Jandra, Jana
• Alfonso = Alfon, Fon, Fonso, Fonsi, Poncho
• Alicia = Ali, Licha
• Anacleto = Cleto
• Antonio = Antón, Tonio, Toni, Tono, Toño, Toñin, Antoñito, Antuco, Antuquito
• Antonia = Toña, Tona, Toñi, Tonia, Tania, Antoñita
• Arturo = Arturito, Turito, Art
• Beatriz = Bea, Betty
• Cándido/a = Candi
• Carla = Carlita
• Carlos = Car, Carlito, Carlitos, Carlo, Calín, Litos, Chepe
• Carmen = Mamen, Carmenchu, Menchu, Carmencha, Carmencita, Carmelita, Carmela, Carmina
• Carolina = Caro, Carol, Carito
• Cecilia = Ceci, Chila
• Celestino = Tino
• César = Cesi, Cesa, Checha, Cesito
• Charles = Carles
• Ciro = Cirino
• Claudia = Clau, Claudi
• Concepción = Conchi, Conchita, Concha, Conce
• Consuelo = Consu, Chelo, Coni, Concha
• Covadonga = Cova, Cobi
• Cristian = Cris
• Cristina = Cris, Cristi, Tina
• Cristóforo = Cuco, Chosto
• Cruz = Crucita, Chuz
• Dalila = Lila
• Dalia = Dali
• Daniel = Dani
• David = Davo, Davilo
• Dolores = Lola, Loles, Loli, Lolita
• Eduardo = Edu, Lalo, Eduardito, Guayo
• Enrique = Quique, Kike
• Ernesto = Neto, Netico, Tito
• Esperanza = Espe, Pera, Lancha
• Eugenia = Genita
• Eugenio = Genín, Genito
• Eva = Evita
• Federico = Quico, Fede
• Felícita = Felacha
• Fernanda = Fer, Nanda
• Fernando = Fer, Nando, Nano, Ferny, Feña
• Francisco = Fran, Paco, Sisco, Cisco, Curro, Quico, Kiko, Frasco, Frascuelo, Pacho, Pancho, Panchito
• Francisca = Fran, Paqui, Paquita, Sisca, Cisca, Pancha, Curra, Paca, Quica, Panchita, Panchi
• Gabriel = Gabi, Gabo, Gabri
• Gabriela = Gaba, Gabi, Gaby
• Gerardo = Yayo
• Gonzalo = Gonza, Gon, Gonchi, Lalo, Chalo, Talo, Tali
• Graciela = Chela
• Gregorio = Goyo
• Gricelda = Gris, Celda
• Guadalupe = Lupe (female & male), Guada, Pupe, Lupita, Lupilla (female) & Lupito, Lupillo (male), Pita (female)
• Guillermo = Guille, Guiller, Willy, Meme, Momo, Memo
• Héctor = Tito, Torin
• Ignacia = Nacha
• Ignacio = Nacho, Nachito, Naco
• Inocencio = Chencho
• Isabel = Bela, Chabela, Chavela, Chavelita, Chabelita, Isa
• Javier = Javi, Jabo, Javito
• Jorge = Jorgecito, Jorgis, Jordi, Jorgito, Gorge, Jecito
• Jesús = Jesu, Chus, Chucho, Chuy, Suso, Chuyito
• Jesús Alberto = Jesusbeto, Chuybeto
• Jesus María = Chumari, Chusma
• Jesús Manuel = Jesusma
• Jesús Ramón = Jerra, Jesusrra, Chuymoncho, Chuymonchi
• Jesusa = Susi, Sus, Chusa, Chucha, Chuy, Chuyita
• José = Pepe, Chepe, Pepito, Chepito, Pito, Pepín
• Josefa = Pepa, Pepi, Pepita, Fina, Fini, Finita
• José Carlos = Joseca
• José Luis = Joselo, Joselu, Pepelu
• José Miguel = Josemi, Jomi
• Josefina = Jose, Fina, Chepina, Chepita
• José María = Chema, Chemari, Jose Mari
• José Manuel = Chema, Mané, Memel
• José Ramón = Peperamon, Joserra
• Juan = Juanito, Juancho, Juanelo
• Juan Carlos = Juanca, Juancar, Juanqui
• Juan Ernesto = Juaner
• Juan Fernando = Juanfer
• Juan Javier = Juanja
• Juan Manuel = Juanma

• Juan Miguel = Juangui, Juanmi
• Juan Pablo = Juanpa, Juanpi, Juanpis
• Juan Ramón = Juanra
• Julio = Julín, Julito
• Laura = Lalita, Lala, Lauri, Lauris, Lau
• Leticia = Leti
• Lourdes = Lulú
• Lucía = Lucy
• Luciano = Chano
• Luis = Lucho, Luisito, Güicho, Luisín
• Magdalena = Magda, Malena, Lena, Leni
• Manuel = Manu, Manolo, Lolo, Manolito, Meño, Manuelito
• Marcelo = Chelo, Marce
• Margarita = Marga, Magui
• María Aurora = Marora
• María Auxiliadora = Chilo, Mauxi, Mausi
• María de la Luz = Mariluz
• María de Lourdes = Malula, Marilú
• María del Carmen = Maricarmen, Mamen, Mai, Maica, Mayca, Mayka, Mamen, Mari
• María del Rosario = Charo, Charito
• María del Refugio = Cuca
• María del Sol/María de la Soledad = Marisol, Sol, Sole
• María de las Nieves = Marinieves
• María Eugenia = Maru, Yeni, Kena, Kenita
• María Elena = Malena, Marilena
• María Fernanda = Mafe
• María Isabel = Maribel, Mabel, Marisabel, Marisa
• María José/María Josefa = Mariajo, Majo, Mai, Josefa, Marijó, Maripepa, Maripepi, Marijose, Jose
• María Laura = Malala
• María Luisa = Marisa, Mariluisa
• María Teresa = Maritere, Maite, Mayte, Teté, Mari
• Mario = Mayito
• Mauricio = Mau, Mauro, Mauri
• Máximo = Maxi, Max, Maximino
• Mayola = May
• Mercedes = Merce, Merche, Meche, Meches, Mechas
• Micaela = Mica
• Minerva = Mine, Miner
• Montserrat = Montse
• Myriam = Myri, Miriam, Miry
• Nicolás = Nico
• Oriana = Ori, Nana, Nanita, Ana, Anita
• Pablo = Pablito, Pablete
• Paloma = Palo
• Paula = Pau
• Paulina = Pau, Pauli
• Paola = Pao
• Patricia = Patri, Tricia, Pato
• Patricio = Pato, Patric
• Pedro = Pedrito, Perico
• Pilar = Pili, Pilarín, Piluca
• Rafael = Rafa, Rafi, Rafo
• Ramón = Mon, Moncho, Monchi, Ramoncito, Pocholo
• Raúl = Rauli, Raulito, Rul, Rulo, Rule, Ral, Rali
• Refugio = Cuca, Cuquita
• Remedios = Reme
• Rodrigo = Rodri, Ruy, Roy, Ro
• Roberto = Robe, Rober, Berto, Robertito, Tito, Beto
• Rosalía = Chalia
• Rosalva = Chava
• Rosario = Charo, Chayo, Chayito
• Rocío = Roci, Chio, Ro
• Salvador = Salva, Chava, Chavito
• Santiago = Santi, Yago, Diejo, Chago, Tiago
• Sergio = Chucho, Checo, Chejo, Checho, Sergi
• Soledad = Sol, Sole, Chole, Chol
• Susana = Susi, Sus, Su
• Teresa = Tere, Teresita
• Timoteo = Timo, Teín
• Tomás = Tomasito, Tomasín, Tomy
• Valentina = Val, Vale, Tina, Tinita, Valentinita
• Vicente = Chente, Vicen, Bicho, Sento
• Victor, Victorio = Vic, Vis, Vico
• Victoria = Vico, Viqui, Viky, Vicky
• Verónica = Vero, Verito, Veru

Spain’s other languages

The recognition of Spain’s co-official languages — Catalan–Valencian, Basque, Galician, Aranese — legally allowed the autonomous communities to re-establish their vernacular social identity via the translation and re-spelling of names from Spanish to the regional languages of Spain.

Catalan names

In the Catalan-speaking territories, the naming customs are as in Spain, but surnames usually are separated with the letter i (“and"), instead of the Spanish y, e.g. Pasqual Maragall i Mira, ex-president of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia). Furthermore, the national language policy enumerated in Artículo 19.1 de la Ley 1/1998 (Article 19.1 of Law 1/1998) stipulates that "the citizens of Catalonia have the right to use the proper regulation of their Catalan names and surnames and to introduce the conjunction between surnames". The correction, translation, and surname-change are regulated by the Registro Civil (Civil Registry) with Decreto 139/2007 del 26 de junio (Decree 138/2007 of 26 June), modifying Decreto 208/1998 del 30 de julio (Decree 208/1998 of 30 July), which regulates the accreditation of the linguistic correctness of names. The attributes and functions of Decree 138/2007 of 26 July, regulate the issuance of language-correction certificates for translated Catalan names, by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies) in Barcelona. Nevertheless, there are Catalan surnames that conform to neither the current spelling rules nor to the traditionally correct Catalan spelling rules; a language-correction certification can be requested from the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, for names such as these, from:

• Piñol to Pinyol
• Farré to Ferrer
• Gabarra to Gavarró
• Casas to Cases
• Perpiñá to Perpinyà
• Jufré to Jofré
• Pijuan to Pijoan
• Roselló to Rosselló

Catalan hypocoristics and nicknames

Many Catalan names are shortened to hypocoristic forms using only the final portion of the name (unlike Spanish, which mostly uses only the first portion of the name), and with a diminutive suffix; example Catalan names are:

• Antoni = Toni
• Bartomeu = Tomeu
• Dolors = Lloll, Dolo, Lola
• Concepció = Ció
• Eulàlia = Laia
• Francesc = Cesc
• Isabel = Bel
• Joaquim = Quim, Ximo
• Joaquima = Quima
• Josefina = Fina, Fineta
• Josep = Pep

• Madgalena = Magda
• Manel = Nelo
• Maria = Mariona
• Mariona = Ona
• Meritxell = Txell
• Montserrat = Serrat, Montse
• Narcís = Narciset, Ciset
• Núria = Nuri
• Vicent = Vicentó, Cento
• Xavier = Xavi

Hispano American naming customs

Argentina

Despite Argentina being an Hispanophone nation, the social identity of most Argentines is registered to the birth records identified only the apellido paterno (paternal surname); thus would the writer Jorge Luis Borges occasionally be referred to by his full name: Jorge Luis Borges Acevedo. Analogously, Honduras requires birth certificates recording two surnames. In Argentine culture, children occasionally are named with two, phonetically contrasting names whose combinations are pronounced differently; for example, the composite name Juan Román — correctly accented and spelled as Juan Román is pronounced as two words, whereas the closed spelling JuanRoman is pronounced as one word, a usage common to northern-most South America.

The Caribbean

Besides the Spanish naming customs, the countries at the Caribbean periphery, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela et al., also use foreign naming customs; thus the name Yesaidú (“Yes, I do") derived from English, and Adonis (derived from the Greek), and composite names such as Yolimar (Yolanda + Mario), Glorimar (Gloria + María), and Luyen (Lucía and Enrique). In August of 2007, a draft law by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council thus sought to limit the national Spanish naming custom:

Proyecto de Ley Orgánica del Registro Civil: Limitación a la inscripción de nombres Artículo 106. . . . no permitirán que . . . les coloquen nombres que los expongan al ridículo; sean extravagantes o de difícil pronunciación en el idioma oficial; contengan variantes familiares y coloquiales que denoten una identificación confusa o que generen dudas sobre la determinación del sexo. En estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes. . . . Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros. . . .”

Civil Registry Organic Law Project: Limitation upon the inscription of names Article 106 “. . . [the civil registrars] will not permit that . . . [parents] place names [upon their children] that expose them to ridicule; are extravagant or of difficult pronunciation in the official language; that contain familiar and colloquial variants that denote a confused identification or that generate doubts about the determination of the sex. In these cases, the registrar will offer, as reference, a listing of the most common names and surnames. . . . The names of boys, girls, or adolescents of the country’s indigenous ethnic groups, and the names of the children of foreigners, are excepted from this disposition. . . .”

In the event, popular complaint against the naming-custom-limiting Article 106 compelled the Venezuelan National Electoral Council to delet it from the Civil Registry Organic Law Project.

The marital conjunction "de"

Most Latin American Spanish naming custom traditionally presumed a wife’s assuming her husband’s apellido (his paternal surname) suffixed after her (maiden) first surname with the conjunction de (“of") — thus Ángela López Sáenz, as wife of Tomás Portillo Blanco, would become Ángela López de Portillo; the contemporary naming custom now practises a wife’s retaining her surname. This custom is more social than formal, because her full married-name (Ángela López Sáenz de Portillo), usually is a formal, documentary convention.

Contemporaneously, this Spanish naming custom practice is culturally perceived as an antique form of patriarchal sexism against women, because the conjunction de implies chattel ownership, wife as personal property of the husband. Furthermore, the custom provides her with ceremonial life and death wife-names, Ángela López, Sra. de Portillo (Ángela López, Wife of Portillo) wherein Sra. (señora, “Mrs”) connotes "wife"; and Ángela López Sáenz, vda. de Portillo (Ángela López Sáenz, Widow of Portillo), wherein vda. (viuda, “widow”) denotes widowhood.

Spanish naming customs differ by country, but in Argentina, Eva Perón (Evita) and Isabel Perón (Isabelita), the second and third wives of Juan Perón (an ex-president), became politically important women by retaining the Perón surname, a political-brand-name, hence their exceptional one-surname usages without the proprietary, “wife”-connoting de.

See also

• Nobility particle
• List of personal naming conventions (for other languages)
• Name for general coverage of the topic
• Portuguese names
• French names
• Basque surnames

External links

• Hispanic Heraldry (in Spanish) – Information about Hispanic surnames.
• Nombres de Niñas (in Spanish) – List of names in Spanish, with list of most popular names.
• Catalan Society of Heraldry (in Catalan) – Information about Catalan surnames.
• Territorial distribution of surnames (Data from the Register on 1 January 2006) and several Excel tables about name and surname distribution by age and province, from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain).