JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY I HAVE NOTICED MANY SURNAMES GO BACK TO NOBILITY ONCE YOU TRACE IT; IF YOU'RE LUCKY! I KNOW THERE ARE 4 TYPES OF SURNAMES OR 5 I THINK.

-COMPUESTO DE PATERNAL Y MATERNAL

*LIKE MOST COMMON PEOPLE ONE SURNAME FROM MOM AND DAD

LIKE MY GF MARTíN MéNDEZ Y DE SERRANO

-COMPUESTO

LIKE THE RUíZ DE ESPARZA
*NEVER CHANGES USUALLY

RUíZ DE ESPARZA LITTERALLT MEANS THE SON OF RUY (ROY) OF ESPARZA

*PATRONíMICO (-EZ SUFFIX

*LOCALIDAD USUALLY FROM I.E. MARíA DE LISALDE

AND *DESCRIPTIVE LIKE JOSé DELGADO

MY QUESTION IS ABOUT LOCALIDAD AND COMPUESTO
IM STARTING TO THINK THAT ONLY NOBLES WERE ALLOWED TO
TAKE ON A SURNAME IN THE BEGINNING, IN SPAIN AT LEAS, I RECENTLY
READ IN ANCESTRY. COM (WILL POST THE ARTICLE LINE SOON!) ALMOST ALL PEASANTS DIDNT SURVIVE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. sPAIN HAS AN INFAMOUS STATISTIC THAT ABOUT 80% OF PEOPLE WERE NOBLE IN MIDDLE AGES. WHICH LED ME TO BELIEVE THAT SURNAMES REALLY MEAN MORE THAN JUST A LAST NAME. i NEVER LOOKED AT SURNAMES IN THIS FASHION. LIKE AN EXAMPLE WOULD BE CASTILLA A "PEASANT" COULDNT TAKE ON THIS SURNAME CASTILLA BECAUSE HE MIGHT GET "KILLED" TAKING CASTILLA WOULD MEAN YOUR A DESCENDANT OF A KING IN CASTILLA.? i THINK IM GETTING CONFUSED, JUST THOUGHT IT WAS A NEW
HIGHLIGHT ON SURNAMES. SURNAMES IN SPAIN STARTED AROUND 9-10TH CENTURY. THE FAMOUS ONES WERE CREATED LIKE GONZALEZ, MENDEZ, FERNANDEZ, GUTIERREZ, RAMIREZ AND SO ON. ANY COMMENTS? PLEASE! -DANIEL MéNDEZ DEL CAMINO