Interesting question...  
I use to believe the difference in spelling the names
like Gonzalez/Gonzales, Lopez/Lopes,
Martinez/Martines/ etc., was that the letter "z" was
used by the Spanish and the letter "s" was used by the
Portuguese. 

But later I found out this was not true because many
of the old Spanish/Mexican church records I found used
both the letter "z" or the letter "s", depending on
the priest doing the writing.  I believe many of our
ancestors didn't know how to read-or-write so it was
up to the priest to spell and write their names.  For
instance, my great---grandmother's last name was
spelled "Tovar" and sometimes was spelled "Tobar". 
Which one is correct? To me they're both correct.

Alberto Duarte Prieto
Santa Maria, California

--- Joseph Puentes  wrote:

> 
> This reminds me of a question I've been meaning to
> ask but kind of 
> forget every time I get to the key board. I guess
> its time (been time) 
> for me to start writing myself notes so i'll
>

Saludos to everyone:

I haven't written messages for a while, but, anyways, here's my 
contribution to this discussion.

My paternal grandfather's name is a very special case in my family. 
He was baptized Jose Adolfo Apodaca Ramirez (Adolfo Apodaca, a 
secas). Twenty-some years later, when he got married, he was 
described as Ranulfo Apodaca (and he signed his name like that, 
too). For the rest of his life, he was known to everyone as Arnulfo 
Apodaca. This is the name that appears on his death certificate. His 
real name (Adolfo) was never used by the family, and was eventually 
replaced by "Arnulfo". In fact, an uncle, one of my brothers, and 
some distant cousin I don't even know, all were given my grandpa's 
fake name.

Don't you think that Adolfo sounded much better than Arnulfo? Still, 
it seems that my grandfather preferred the "ugly" name.

My family tree is packed with names that are a little bit odd by 
today's standards. An example is my maternal grandmother. Her name 
is

Hey, there is nothing wrong with our old Spanish
names.  My great-----grandaunt's name was Maria
Guadalupe Leogarda De La Cruz Pena Morales, 1797,
Valle De Allende, Chihuahua,Mexico. 

They were long but beautiful.

Alberto Duarte Prieto
Santa Maria, California

--- Alicia Carrillo  wrote:

> Marge and Emilie,
>    
>   Alicia must be a very new name because in all my
> research I have not once found this name either in
> my ancestors or any other records. I guess we are
> modern women hence the new variant of a name. I
> guess that's also why I am not saintly, no
> precedents in my namesake.
>    
>   Alicia, a saint in waiting or in the
> making............hope is everlasting, (sigh, sigh).
> 
> Margarita Vallazza  wrote:
>   That's what I thought, too, Em! BTW, my middle
> name is Alicia...my 
> folks said it was after a family friend but I don't
> remember ever 
> meeting her. My first name is after my Scots
> mother's sister but in 
> Spanish. I've

My mother in law, who was from Ecuador, had a middle name that was
Torribia (how terrible for her:))That was her mother's middle name.
She had a sister named Zoraida and another sister named Rosenda (not
too bad but still). Marge:)

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That's what I thought, too, Em! BTW, my middle name is Alicia...my
folks said it was after a family friend but I don't remember ever
meeting her. My first name is after my Scots mother's sister but in
Spanish. I've since discovered that my aunt was named after her
grandmother, who was named after her own grandmother. Had I known that
I would have
named one of my own daughters a variant of it. Marge, who
is Shinju in Japanese.:)

On Dec 21, 2005, at 5:19 AM, Emilie Garcia wrote:

> Well, Alicia, I have a sister, my only sibling, who is named Alicia
> Emma.  I will have

Dear Emilie,

Maybe this question was already answered but I was looking at a map in
some book and found that there's a Saltrillo Jalisco just barely south
of the State of Zacatecas. Could your ancestor have been from there?
Marge:)

Aren't you