Hi!.

One of the first things that surprised me a lot when I started learning English was that, there was a lot of English surnames with meaning. This is not very usual in spaniards' surnames.

I've been searching the surnames of most of my workmates (we are more than 200) and there are just a few with meaning: Arroyo, Rinc�n, Nieto, Domingo, Rubio, Navarro. (Here I have not written down all the surnames ended in "ez" that come from "hijo de", for example "Fern�ndez" comes from "hijo de Fernando", etc).

Am I right if I say thay americans' surnames usually have meanings?. Or there are just as few as in Spanish?.

I just know a few american surnames like:
John Bush --> arbusto
Will Smith --> herrero
Michael Jackson --> �hijo de gato/sota?
Paul Newman --> hombre nuevo
Stephen King --> Rey
Harrison Ford --> vado
Tom Cuise --> Crucero
Robert Redford --> vado rojo.

�Or maybe those are just the actor's "commercial names" and not their own names?.

Deleted post because didn't address the issue so was irrelevant.

Toxt,

I think there are just as many "meaningful lastnames" in Spanish as in English. In both cases, many come from the occupations of the first person to be named (Baker), (Pastor).

Other examples in Spanish:

Lechuga
Cordero
Palacios
Poblador
Rico
Vecino
Campos
Hidalgo
Parra
Conde
Moreno
Porras
Infante
Grandes
Puente
Segura
Ramos
Le�n
Portero
Villa
Mesa
Guerrero
Tocino
Cuadrado
Lim�n
Sobrino
Mancha
Valiente
Caballero
Torres
Delgado
Espa�ol
Segundo
Pe�a
Romero
C�spedes
Iglesias
Vega
Cort�s
Rueda
Cuevas
Franco!
Polo (Franco's wife's) !
R�os=Rivers (hey, this one's in English too!)

And Spanish first names(female ones specially) are more likely to have a meaning than English;

Paloma=Dove (that's me!)
Roc�o=Dew (my youngest sister)
Remedios=Remedies
Milagros=Miracles
Encarnaci�n=Incarnation
Dolores=Pains, Sorrows!
Soledad=Solitude
Inmaculada=Immaculate
Paz=Peace
Luz=Light
Esperanza=Hope (my best friend )

BTW Toxt, in case you speak Euskera; one of my lastnames is Arrondo, and I was told a couple of years ago that it's a Basque word that means 'pescador'(fisherman), do you know if that's true? -Thanks

P.

Yes. I was talking about surnames that are actual words. What I still don't know is if is more common in English that in Spanish those kind of surnames.

I'm sure that in Spanish the surnames that Pim has writen are surnames but, not very common (or at least not very, very common) because I don't know anybody whose surname is: Lechuga, Cordero, Poblador, Cuadrado. Not personally and either I haven't read nothig about anybody whose surname is Cordero. . I MUST read more! I MUST meet more new people! So, I think that they are surnames in Spanish but not very common surnames.

And about the surname you have ask me "Arrondo". I understand a lot of Euskera but not as much as I would like to .
-"Ar" in Euskera is "macho de un animal" in Spanish, in English I suppose that is "male".
- "Ondo": Means "al lado de" and "bien" and in English "next to" or "OK".
So, I suposse that arrondo might mean something like "junto al macho" or "next to the male" or something like this. In this case I think that the meaning of "next to" is more appropiate in this case because it appears after "Ar".

By the way, Pim, how goes your ankle?. I hope it is well by now.

I know quite a few Spaniards with "Reyes" for a last name

I do agree with pim on the Spanish female first names having a lot more meaning than those in English.

Saludos,
jer...

Well, I'd have to disagree about English female given names lacking meaning, Jer. It's just that we've taken on words from so many languages, that our names' meanings have been lost.

Still, you do see little cards and "name the baby" sites with those meanings. For example: my given names are Sue and Lynn. Sue is from Susan which is from Hebrew Shoshanah, meaning a lily, very close to Azucena, from Arabic, I'd bet. Lynn is from Celtic roots and means a pool of water(hence, Dublin "dark pool" or even "black pool") So that makes me a lily pool, or by a pool! Pretty darn poetic, I'd say.

Alas, you are more or less named after the "weeping prophet", Jeremiah----but don't get depressed by it, though: it means "God will uplift"!

Your friend and language freak, Lily

Interesting topic. I agree with Sue that since in English we take our names from sooo many languages (especially anglicized versions of Hebrew names from the Bible.)that alot of times we don't what our name actually means unless someone tells us. There are some exceptions i.e. : Grace (gracia), Faith (fe), Hope (esperanza),Chastity (castidad), Felicity(felicidad),Daisy (Margarita), but not very many.

As to Spanish last names, I don't know if this is the case in Spain, but in Latin America it seems we have alot of last names that actually mean something, usually a religious meaning, for instance, "de Jesus", "de Maria", "de la Luz", "Santos", "Espiritu Santo", "Cruz", "del Carmen", etc. I think that this is because most of us in Latin America are the descendants of "conversos" so to speak and the priest just threw out the first religious word he could think of when he was baptizing our ancestors "in nomini Patris, et figlio et Spiritu Sanctu."

I just thought of a cool Spanish surname and given name combo, of a guy I met way back in 1962: Baldomero Ballesteros. I think he may be Severiano's older brother. Anyway: Baldomero=Walter/Vladimir and Ballesteros, if I'm not mistaken, are the guys who shoot crossbows(?) I think Spanish has quite a few "occupation" names, just as English does, though I don't know what the following would be: Cooper(the barrel maker) Thatcher(of roofs)Fletcher(puts feathers on arrows)
And of course, "origin" names, like my maiden name: Fleming(person from Flanders)
Native speakers want to help me out with this? I know there are lots of STREETS named after trades....cuchilleros, etc.

Most names in Spanish also have a latin, hebrew, biblical or whatever origin with some meaning, of course, but here's a list of more names with literal meaning:

Consuelo=comfort
Rosario=rosary
Flor=flower
Gloria=glory
Valle=valley
B�rbara=barbarian
Concepci�n=conception
Victoria=victory, triumph
Nieves=snows
Candela=candle, light
Juncal=willowy
Asunci�n=assumption
Patricia=patrician
Blanca=white
Mercedes=favors, worship
Pilar=pillar (my mum)
Camino=road, path
Sol=sun
Marina=from the sea
Dulce=sweet
Clara=fair
Pastora=shepherdess
Angustias=anguish!!!
Reyes=kings
Amparo=shelter (my grandma )
Alba=Dawn (hey, this one's in English too!)

Some male names:

Domingo=sunday
Justo=just
C�ndido/a=ingenuous (also a female name)
Angel=angel
Frutos=fruits!
Benigno=kind, gentle
Salvador=savior

Hey Toxt, I've added some more last names to the list above, all of them belong to people that I know (friends, neighbours, co-workers, acquaintances) so don't make fun!
In English, I can think of a name with a clear Spanish meaning; Linda .
I'm leaving out all the many "flower names":
Rosa, Margarita, Azucena, Violeta, Hortensia, Camelia,....
And also some names that aren't common at all, because they belong to Virgins from small towns or that are less known, such as; Oliva, Regla, Sagrada, etc, etc....
I'm also leaving out names which happen to have a meaning, like; Diana (reveille, bull's-eye) or Lidia (struggle, bullfighting).