Question concerning Surnames
We have four children of the same family but the invert there surnames. I understand that some times Spanish families will use the mothers as the first surname and the father's second, but this family uses the mother's name as the first surname for the girls, and their father's name for the first surname for the boys. Their father's surname is Martinez and I'm thinking it might be because of the "ez" suffix being like de. The mother's surname is Francisco. Is this a regional practice or just a personal preference. Thanks Ric
2 Answers
I think that you are really confused. In Spain your we have two surnames. The first one, is the father's first surname and the second one, is the mother's first surname. Nowadays, a few families change the order of the surnames of their children (first the mother one and second the father one).
On the other hand, you talk about the origin of most of the surnames finished in -ez. Example: Martínez, Fernandez, Perez, etc.. I am not sure, but i learned that, in old times, these surnames came from the fathers NAME. So, if your father name was Martín, your surname would be Martin-ez. In this way:
Fernando - Fernández
Pero (old form of Pedro) - Pérez
Gonzalo - González
So we could say that -ez means something similar to "son of".
Anybody can confirm my version?
I understand all of that and that is how most families name their children. However, this family has four children. The older two are female and their surnames are Francisco Jimenez. Thinking that Francisco is their father's name and Jimenez is their mothers. The younger two are surnamed Martinez Francisco. Thinking the same way would make me think that their father's name is Martin and mother's name is Francisco. The children have the same mother and say they have the same father and if there are different fathers, then why are the girls first surname Francisco and the boys second surname Francisco?
