When I cleaned up several generations on the Esparaza tree on Family Search to reflect the accurate relationships I was very careful to include the correct mother’s maiden name on each record which was especially important on generations with the same name, like Lope Ruiz Esparza Espinosa and Lope Ruíz de Esparza Diaz. However, the same Family Search user who had deleted the couple relationship mentioned on my previous post changed a number of the names, including some, but not all of the wives by adding long extensions like these:
Lic. Lope Ruíz De Esparza Espinoza Sr. De Esparza de Galar y Zariquiegui
Lic. Pedro Ruíz De Esparza Caparroso Sr. De Esparza de Galar y Zariquiegui - Lope Ruiz Esparza Espinosa’s son Martin Ruíz De Esparza Huici Sr. De Esparza de Galar y Zariquiegui - Lope Ruiz Esparza Espinosa’s father
María de Larrasoaña Sra. Del Palacio de Zariquiegui – One of Martin Ruíz De Esparza Huici’s wives (Not Lope’s mother)
This extended version of the name was obviously taken from court documents like the example below that uses the name in the title with the added description in the Content of the summary, but this isn’t always the case. There are many court actions that only use Lope Ruiz de Esparza in both the title and Content of the court action.
LOPE RUIZ DE ESPARZA contra DOMINGO DE OSCOZ
Content: Lope Ruiz de Esparza, señor de los palacios de Esparza (Galar) y Zariquiegui, vecino de Pamplona, contra Domingo de Oscoz, residente en el barrio de Santa Engracia de Pamplona, sobre retrocesion de la venta de una viña junto al degolladero de Pamplona de Antonio de Espinosa, su primo carnal, por 47 ducados, alegando derecho de tanteo como pariente mas cercano.
My question is whether those of nobility were referred to as Lord or Lady of a domain from birth, or only after the death of the father? It doesn’t make sense to me that three generations of Esparza men who may have been alive at the same time would all be referred to as Lord of Esparza de Galar y Zariquiegui. It seems that, for genealogy purposes, using the mother’s maiden name after the paternal surname distinguishes one generation from another sufficiently. Family Search offers another area called Other Formation/Alternate Name where name variations and additional information can be added.
Anyway, I looked into what Family Search recommended for Name entry and following the guidelines changed the names back to the ones I had originally used with paternal and maternal surnames. I included Source documents that stated ONLY the name without the extended description in the title of court actions, suggested that name variations could be added under Other Formation/Alternate Name, and actually added the extended information in that section. Again, the user changed them all back to the extended names. I’m not to get into a dueling match with this user and make any more changes. Meanwhile, I’m going to a Family Search seminar in June that deals with how to maintain accuracy in trees and deal with those who are making it difficult, so I will bring up my issues then.
Thanks for any insight that can be offered here about title and name traditions in Spain during the Middle Ages and in genealogy, in general.
Hello Travis,
I took another look at Bartolome de Mesquita. His wife Lucia Torres doesn’t show any Silva ancestry. In looking for Bartolome de Mesquita’s ancestry. I would first search his name with a mother surnamed Silva. Next I would replace the Mesquita with Silva and look for a Bartolome Silva. Mesquita may be a location from where he was from and took it as a surname replacing Silva. Amesquita is a variation of Mesquita so also search with that spelling.
Good luck in your research,
Rick A. Ricci
Hello Rick,
Thank you for the info and tips. I'll implement them during my searches.
I agree that the Silba/Silva is probably on Bartolomé's side. I charted 2 possible families to which he may belong. One of these families is documented with Converso affiliations.
Our Gómez line features 5% Sephardic DNA according to ancestry (tested by a very close relative) and Bartolomé Mesquita and Luisa de Torres are ancestors about 7 times over (our family is descended from them through multiple children, sometimes multiple times). So I've been concentrating on the aforementioned converso Mesquita/Amesquita group.
I hope progress can be made as this couple represents such a large part of our family history.
Thanks again.
Best,
Travis
I found the post that I wrote that I referenced but it focused on surnames changes according to location. Here it is:
“Published by R.A.Ricci (not verified) - Mon, 2016-05-30 20:47 | Permalink
Change in surnames according to location given
Comment
Someone asked me to explain the change in surnames in the Ochoa-Garibay pedigree.
If someone here in West Los Angeles asked where I live I would say Mar Vista. If I was in Northern California I would answer Los Angeles. if I was in another state, let's say a state clear across the country on the eastern coast, I would answer California. If I was in another country, I would answer the United States of America. This is how the surname sometimes changed from one generation to the next for Spaniards in the 15th and 16th centuries. The surnames didn't always change permanently. This was a naming pattern in these basque provinces. Some families kept their same surname even if they moved around. Some other families changed their surname often. In some families everyone changed their surname if one person changed his surname, in other families, every sibling may have a different surname.
Juan Martinez de Uncella de Mondragon de Aramayona de Alava
Ivan (Juan) son of Martin residing in the church jurisdiction of Uncella in the Villa Mondragon, from the valley Aramayona, from the Alava province, Basque Country, Spain.
Iglesia de Uncella from the Valle Aramayona, provincia Alava,
Villa de Mondragon
Later! Ybarlucea and Garibay show up as part of the surname. We have Martin Ochoa Ybarlucea becoming Martin Ochoa Garibay. The change is Ybarlucea to Garibay, from the banks of the river where the fern grows in Elorrio (Ybarlucea) to the valley where Elorrio is located (Garibay)
The banks where the fern grows in Elorrio= Ybarlucea
Valle de Elorrio= Garibay
Provincia de Guipozcoa
Basque Country
I hope this helps,
R.A. Ricci”
The reason that I wrote this originally was to explain why many of the family members had different surnames from their siblings, parents, or other relatives.
Rick A Ricci
Hello Rick,
Thank you for posting this comment. Your modern parallel using Mar Vista, LA and CA is excellent. It helped.
Yes, 17th century Colonial surnames are challenging for a novice like myself but much more preferable - from a genealogical perspective - over Anglo naming practices, where these valuable clues are lost after marriage!
Connected story: using the 1669 Padron of Santa María de los Lagos, I charted out the family of Juan Días Toribio and Inés de Abrego. Most of their children assumed the surname Días, but some daughters opted to occasionally use "Abrego."
For almost a year I assumed that the "Antonia Rodrígues," who lived on the same Hacienda was a worker or servant. She is listed among the servants further down the list from the family. Later, I discovered her serving as madrina in multiple baptisms alongside her father "Juan Días Toribio" as padrino.
I learned a lesson. Never make assumptions based upon surnames in Colonial records.
This brings me to a surname question:
What is the function of "Toribio" at the end of Juan Días's name? Toribio is a personal name. I have never seen it used as a surname.
If it's not a surname; why did he place it at the end of his name? To distinguish himself from another Juan Días?
Thank you.
Hello Travis,
Toribio, as many other names in Spanish, may be a personal name or a surname. By coincidence, I recently had a medical proceeding and the doctor's name happens to be Héctor (like myself) Toribio. My own first surname is Félix, and I have Carlos and Felipe, among others, as surnames in my family tree. Common surnames are Jaime, Lorenzo, Santiago, Miguel, Juan, etc. In Spain, at the introduction of the Civil Registration (ca 1860), most people with this kind of surname were added the preposition "de" to make clear that it was a surname.
Best regards,
H
Hello again, Travis,
By the way, have you find any info on the ancestors of Juan Díaz Toribio and Inés de Ábrego. I only know that he was Spanish and she was mestiza.
Best regards,
H
Hello Hector!
I have not been able to identify the parents of either Juan or Inés.
Here is what I know so far:
Juan Díaz Toribio and Inés de Abrego appear to have moved from Teocaltiche to Lagos sometime between the baptisms of their daughters Inés de Abrego, on 8 June 1641 in Teocaltiche, and Micaela Díaz, on 16 October 1643 in Lagos.
According to 1748 property records, Juan Díaz Toribio purchased the Estancia de Buenavista from Pedro Arias Pardo. There is no date given for the purchase, but I suspect it may have occurred sometime around 1641–1643, coinciding with their move from Teocaltiche to Lagos. After Juan Díaz Toribio's death (abt. 17 Aug 1669), his hacienda, the Estancia de Buenavista, was divided among his four youngest children: Nicolás, Elvira, Tomás, and Ana. Unfortunately, I cannot understand all the information in the record and AI isn't much help, so I am not sure how the property passed out of their hands.
I have tried to determine the location of the Estancia de Buenavista without success. I am fairly certain, however, that it was located somewhere in Jalisco, probably in the area between Lagos and León. In some records, it is also referred to as a hacienda.
Yes, Juan Díaz Toribio is identified as Español in the records, but Inés is specifically identified as mulata in at least one record. Their ten documented children are variously classified in the records as Español, mulato, mestizo, and morisco. Given these classifications, I think it is reasonable to conclude that Inés was most likely mulata rather than mestiza.
I have heard that an early padrón of Teocaltiche exists that may shed some light on Juan and Inés, although I have not been able to locate a copy or examine it yet.
We are descended from this couple through multiple lines, so if you happen to uncover anything further or have any suggestions for additional avenues of research, I would be extremely interested to hear them.
Thank you,
Travis
The 1748 property record: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSD2-RVG3
Baptism of Inés de Abrego, on 8 June 1641 in Teocaltiche: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-GRS3-C1
Baptism of Micaela Díaz, on 16 October 1643 in Lagos: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-G5R2-L
Hello Travis,
The information you have found is quite interesting. It tells where they came from and the time frame. I will and try to find the Teocaltiche padrón you have mentioned and keep looking. Toribio is a rather uncommon surname and Ábrego isn't either very common, although we know that the transmision of surnames didn't follow any logic at the time and it was rather capricious.
Best regards,
Héctor
Hi Dana,
I'm going through a similar dilemma and settled on a similar solution. Thanks for your perspective.
Everything is standardized today compared to the past so it's taken me a long time to get my mind around this. Even relatives who recently lived in Mexico don't understand naming customs from the colonial period.
Here's a question - not just for you - but for anyone who can answer: what about those with two completely different names?
Example: Ignacío (b c1630) son of Bartolomé de Mesquita and Luisa de Torres, was obviously named after someone, probably a relative, named Ignacío de Silva. So we have some records naming him Ignacío de Silva and others referring to him as Ignacío de Mesquita.
Thank you,
Travis
Ignacio was probably named after a grandparent or greatgrandparent that was surnamed Silva. I have even seen a surname skip even more generations. I few years ago I wrote about surnames in a post about the Ochoa Garbay family surnames. I will look for it and add it here.
Rick A. Ricci
Silva