Late 1800's Mexicans in US southwest ?? about names "y" (70's, colonies)
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I'm reading a book taking place in new Mexico in the late 1870's. True Story, real people. I know some of the Mexicans were said to be part Mexican and part Indian but I think this is a Spanish language question.
They have 3 and 4 part names including just sometimes the letter y. Example Jose Chaves y Chaves.
What does the y mean? And in this example why would the name repeat Chaves afterwards?
Spanish tradition, then and now, was/is to combine patrilineal and matrilineal names. Jose Chaves y Baca was the son of Sr. Chaves and the former Srta. Baca. In modern times, some Hispanics drop one name or the other, or simply change it to Jose Chaves Baca, known as Mr. Baca in Anglo.
I don't know the cultural whys and what-fors; it's not universal by any means.
Y is and, as said before (before an I or Y, it shifts to e, so it would be Chaves e Ybarra for instance). The first of the surnames is paternal and the second is maternal.
To add complexity to this, sometimes a two part surname is treated as one name, for instance someone may retain their father's two surnames if their combination is important to the family. For instance a son of Francisco Chaves y Baca who wants to keep that Chaves y Baca combination may be Jorge Chaves y Baca Otero.
Elite or noble families might have very long chains of given and family names in formal records. Though in everyday use, Jose Chaves y Baca is just Jose Chaves...
I've known both. It seems to be a personal choice.
But then, my g'grandfather switched to his mother's name at past forty, which was a bit of a surprise to his large professional constituency and his adult children...
One of the most famous Spanish philosophers, Jose Ortega y Gasset.
The Revolt of the Masses is Ortega's best known work. In this book he defends the values of meritocratic liberalism reminiscent of John Stuart Mill against attacks from both communists and right-wing populists. Ortega likewise shares Mill's fears of the "tyranny of the majority" and the "collective mediocrity" of the masses, which threaten individuality, free thought, and protections for minorities. Ortega characterized liberalism as a politics of "magnanimity."
I'm reading a book taking place in new Mexico in the late 1870's. True Story, real people. I know some of the Mexicans were said to be part Mexican and part Indian but I think this is a Spanish language question.
They have 3 and 4 part names including just sometimes the letter y. Example Jose Chaves y Chaves.
What does the y mean? And in this example why would the name repeat Chaves afterwards?
Obviously, I do not speak Spanish.
Some of the people in the South West and Mexico hold true to being Spanish - as in Castilian Spanish (Spain - Europe). They don't identify as Mexican or Indian (combined is called "Mestizo"). These people are referred to as 'Peninsulares' in reference to Spain and the Iberian Peninsula.
Some may have ancestry in European Royalty, and Spanish Aristocracy, making lineage and bloodlines more important. They are the richest and most powerful people in Mexico.
Sound familiar? Criollo is Spanish, Criulo is Portugese, and Creole is French - they all refer to a full-blooded European or African born in the colonies.
Just throwing this knowledge out there as it may be helpful in anyone's future readings of history in the Americas.
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