THE ORIGIN OF LAST NAMES

In ancient times, surnames did not exist.

Take the Bible, for example ...

The characters of the Old and New Testaments were known by name: Abraham, Moses, Peter, John, Matthew, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. There was no such thing as Abraham Pérez, Mateo Delgado or José García. (Beware: Iscariot was not the surname of the traitor Judas, nor Thaddeus that of the saint; they were nicknames, nicknames).

Over time, the communities became more and more populated, and at the moment doubts arose:

-Take this message to Juan.

"Which Juan?" Asked the messenger.

-Well, Juan, the ‘from the valley’ - he explained to distinguish it from the other Juan, the ‘del monte’

In this case, the surnames ‘del Valle’ and ‘del Monte’, so common today, arose as a result of the place where these people lived. These are called ‘toponyms surnames’, because toponymy studies the origin of the proper names of a place. In the same category are the surnames Arroyo, Canales, Costa, Cuevas, Peña, Prado, Rivera (which refer to a geographical accident) and Ávila, Burgos, Logroño, Madrid, Toledo (which come from a city in Spain).

Other surnames originate from some architectural peculiarity with which a person was related. If your ancestor lived near several towers, or steps from fountains, or behind a church, or when crossing a bridge, or owned several palaces, now you understand the reason for the surnames Torres, Fuentes, Iglesia, Puente and Palaces.

You may have had an ancestor that had something to do with flora and fauna. Perhaps he raised lambs, harvested apples, or ran a cattle farm. Hence the surnames Cordero, Manzanero and Toro.

The trades or professions of the past have also produced many of the surnames of today. Do you know a Labrador, Shepherd, Monk, Blacksmith, Servant or Cowboy? Well, you know what his ancestors did during the Middle Ages.

Another way to create surnames was based on some physical characteristic, or a trait of your personality or a marital status. If he was not married, then he was Single; if he wasn't fat, he was slim; if he had no hair, he was bald; if his hair wasn't brown, he was blond; if he was not white, he was Moreno; if he had a good sense of humor, he was Cheerful; if he was polite, he was polite.

Perhaps the most curious origin is that of the surnames that end in -ez, such as Rodríguez, Martínez, Jiménez, González, among many others that Hispanics abound among us. The origin is very simple: -ez means 'son of'. Therefore, if your last name is González, it is because you had an ancestor who was the son of a Gonzalo. In the same way, Rodríguez was the son of Rodrigo, Martínez de Martín, Jiménez de Jimeno, Sánchez de Sancho, Álvarez de Álvaro, Benítez de Benito, Domínguez de Domingo, Hernández de Hernando, López de Lope, Ramírez de Ramiro, Velázquez de Velasco , and so on.

The same happens in other languages: Johnson is John's son in English (John-son); MacArthur is Arthur's son in Scottish; Martini is Martín's son in Italian.

This is how, little by little, during the Middle Ages, surnames began to emerge. The purpose was, therefore, to differentiate one person from the other.

Over time, these surnames took on a hereditary character and passed from generation to generation with the purpose of identifying not only people, but families.

 WHO IS MAMI?

“MAMI is that lady who has a handkerchief with my snot in her bag, a package of photos from when I was 2 months old, sweets, an emergency kit.

MAMI is that rocket so fast that it goes around the house and is everywhere at the same time.

MAMI is that juggler who turns on the washing machine with her coat on while she opens the door for the cat with the other, holding the mail with her chin and pushing me away from the garbage can with her foot.

MAMI is that magician who can make tears disappear with a kiss.

MAMI is that athletic champion capable of going in tenths of a second from 0 to 100 to avoid falling down the stairs.

MAMI is that heroine who always defeats my nightmares with a caress.

MAMI is that lady with two-colored hair, who says that as soon as she has another little hole, only another, she goes to the hair salon.

MAMI is that storyteller who reads and makes up the funniest stories just for me.

MAMI is that chef who is capable of making me a delicious dinner with two nonsense that were left in the fridge because she forgot to buy, even if she didn't have dinner.

MAMI is that doctor who knows just by looking at me if I have a fever, how much, and what she has to do.

MAMI is that economist capable of putting on clothes from hundreds of years ago so that I can look very handsome.

MAMI is that singer who sings the sweetest song every night while she cradles me for a little while.

MAMI is that clown who makes me laugh just by moving her face.

MAMI is that sleepwalker who can get up asleep at 4 in the morning, check if I have peed, change my diaper, give me cough syrup, a little water, put on a pacifier, all in the dark and without waking up.

MAMI is that woman who never realized that she grew old to see her children fulfill themselves, crying at night because they already have wings and soon they will leave the nest to look for another, and during the day she smiles to see that the children have no regrets in leaving her because she feels happy "...