Planning to use Hispanic names for your future baby? Before you do that, there are some things you need to know about Hispanic names. Where do they come from? Who uses Hispanic names? And what are the best Hispanic names to exist today? In this article, we listed 6 of the insane things you didn’t know about Hispanic names that are true! Read on.
What’s with the term Hispanic anyway? The term Hispanic is derived from the Latin word Hispanicus, the adjective for the word Hispania. Hispania is the Latin name given by the Romans to the entire Iberian Peninsula, where modern-day Spain and Portugal are located.
Moving forward, the term “Hispanic” generally pertains to people that have a close influence on the Spanish culture, such as languages traditions, and customs. “Hispanic” is also applied to Spaniards or Spanish-speaking settlers of the former Spanish Empire colonies outside mainland Spain, during the colonization era.
Despite the end of the century-long rule of the Spanish Empire on these colonies, the Spanish influence remained, leading to these colonies becoming modern-day Hispanic countries.
When you try to search for Hispanic names, it will almost always lead you to articles about Spanish names. The reason for this is straightforward, Hispanic names are simply Spanish names. The term “Hispanics” was just used to distinguish the mainland Spaniards from Spanish-colonized people outside Spain. Because of this, Hispanic people simply use the same Spanish names or naming conventions.
You read that right. Contrary to the usual Western names, a traditional Spanish name, by default, have at least two surnames. They have a given personal name followed by the father’s paternal surname, then the mother’s paternal surname. This means that the surnames of the late grandfathers are always passed on to their grandchildren.
Sometimes, there are instances that a Hispanic individual uses both the two surnames of their father and mother, for a total of four surnames for that individual. This is usually done in special cases if an individual wants to trace back their genealogy and ancestors. However, taking up four family names per person is a bit lengthy and inconvenient for Hispanics. That is why they consider using only two surnames for their children. As an example, if the mother’s maiden name is Maria Lopez Jaena, and the father’s name is Noel Mercado Realonda. The middle name of both parents is their father’s surname (Lopez and Mercado), therefore, the last name of their children will be Mercado (father’s paternal surname) and Lopez (mother’s paternal surname). Below are more examples of Hispanic last names.
Hispanic Father’s Last Name | Hispanic Mother’s Last Name | Resulting Children’s Surname |
Rodriguez Martin | Sanchez Hernandez | Rodriguez Sanchez |
Romualdez Cruz | Romero Diaz | Romualdez Romero |
Delgado Verde | Alvarez Valdez | Delgado Alvarez |
Villaverde Tuazon | Molina Ramos | Villaverde Molina |
Moralez Ortiz | Vazquez Gil | Moralez Vazquez |
Marin Iglesias | Torres Gamboa | Marin Torres |
Gutierrez Alonso | Castro Suarez | Gutierrez Castro |
This may be a bit contradicting with #2, but hear us out. The two surnames system for Hispanic names is intended to identify or state the whole given name of the person. However, in addressing other people, or introducing themselves for a quick introduction, Hispanic people simply use their father’s last name—for convenience, of course!
Nevertheless, cutting short their whole name into using only their father’s name is not considered unethical in Spanish and Hispanic culture. It is widely accepted and can still be considered formal on all occasions.
Usually, nicknames are derived or based on the given first name of a person. For example, the name Carlita may have a nickname, Lita or Carla. The same concept applies to Hispanic names. The only difference is that, in Hispanic culture, nicknames may also be given based on the “obvious” physical characteristic of a person. For example, a Hispanic boy named Joselito may be nicknamed Jose or Bajito, which means short in height.
Hispanic Boy Names | Hispanic Boy Nicknames |
Alejandro | Andro |
Mateo | Teo |
Nicolas | Kulas |
Santiago | Tiago |
Maximiliano | Maxim |
Valentino | Tino |
Emilio | Emil |
Juan David | David |
Antonio | Tonio |
Jacobo | Hacob |
Hispanic Girl Names | Hispanic Girl Nicknames |
Ana Paula | Ana |
Romina | Mina |
Isidora | Dora |
Camila | Camil |
Magdalena | Magda |
Alejandra | Sandra |
Josefina | Fina |
Rebeca | Eca |
Paulina | Paula |
Florencia | Loren |
Again, in contrast with usual Western culture on taking up names of a husband, Spanish, and Hispanic cultures do not follow it. For the Spanish, it is an important view to be able to follow their lineage or ancestors. For them to be able to do that, they do not change their surnames or replace them with their husbands. There are cases where Hispanic women take up the surnames of their husbands as a courtesy, but still use their original two surnames on important and written documents.
According to a survey on the Hispanic last names in the 2010 census in the United States of America, the most common Hispanic last name is Garcia, having around 1 million individual households sharing the same surname. This is the census of the United States alone, not including other purely Hispanic countries from South America.
In far South-East Asia, the Philippines is considered to be one of the former Hispanic countries. Although The Philippines no longer bear this title because most Filipinos are already English speakers, Hispanic surnames remain in their culture. In a recent survey by Forebears, the most common Hispanic surname in the Philippines is dela Cruz followed by Garcia and Reyes.
Below are some of the worldwide popular Hispanic surnames today (in no definite order).
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