double surnames

Historical Archives
1


Chris Pineda wrote:
I too have come across instances in the 1500s and
1600s where some siblings took on the surname of their
father and others, their mother's. I have heard some
of the following explanations to account for this:

1)Perhaps their mother’s line was more distinguished,

particularly if she was the daughter or grandaughter

of someone famous;


2)Perhaps their father had committed some crime and

some of his children did not want to be associated

with his name;


3)Perhaps the father’s line/surname was associated as

being Sephardic and some children wished to disguise

this fact, particularly when the Inquisition came to

Mexico.

I'm wondering about this possibility. It is my understanding that to be full Spanish was better than Mestizo. so maybe if the mother was thought to be more full blooded spanish they chose to use that name because the genealogy would show this to be true, whereas maybe with the father the lines were more complicated or maybe he was even a "Hijo Natural."

I really don't know about this since I haven't any examples in my own genealogy of the name being the surname of the mother instead of the father.

joseph
Or perhaps it really was not that big a deal back then

to take on one parent’s name over the other. I imagine

for most of the Spanish conquistadores and immigrants,

coming to the New World must have been a fluid time in

terms of identity–it was a rare chance to remake

themselves.


Chris Pineda


— Arturo Ramos <arturo.ramos2@…> wrote:

  
Linda:

I got some persepective on this issue from Mssrs. de

la Torre Berumen

and Valdes Salazar while I was down in Mexico.


Apparently, soon after the Mexican independence,

President Vicente

Guerrero (who was mulatto) decreed that all

Spaniards be expelled from

Mexico.  In reality, many were exempted but

certainly all of those who

had been loyalists during the war of independence

and those that had

royal ties (since Mexico was now a republic) were

expelled.


Those Spanish families that remained became weary of

being labeled

Spanish and particularly loyalists or royalists and

thus those

with “composed names” such as “Carlos y Godoy” or

“Fernandez de Jara

Quemada” quickly dropped parts of their names to

mexicanize them.  I

think it was somewhat arbitrary which parts they

dropped.


On a similar note, I would appreciate hearing any

perspectives people

may have about how children chose whether to take on

the mother’s

family name vs. the father’s family name.  I have

run across many

instances, particularly in the 17th century where

children of the same

family took on different names, i.e. some siblings

took on the father’s

name “Covarrubias” and other siblings in the same

family took on the

mother’s name “De La O” so you have siblings with

different last names.


— In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, “Erlinda

Castanon-Long”

<longsjourney@y…> wrote:




I’m hoping you can help me with double surnames.




Is there a




difference when they use De or Y? Such as Alvares




del Castillo or




Ochoa y Garibay?  How long did they usually keep




the double surname?




I haven’t found a reason why some families ended




up using the surname




they chose.. Villasenor y Jaso, some went




Villasenor and others went




Jaso.. same family!


I have gone from records in Tamazula Jalisco to




Chilchota Michoacan.




So many families from that part of Jalisco came




from this area of




Michoacan in the later 1700’s.  In doing marriage




records from there




I’m finding it not unusual to have the actual




marriage in the home of




a family member, was that normal for the mid




1750’s?




Linda in Everett


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