Articles and Stories

May 24, 2012

One evening, while enjoying a conversation with friends, the topic of names and genealogy arose. How it came up, I am not sure, but what I learned from this, was worth sharing.

Realizing that I was the only one in the group from a foreign country, it was inevitable that I was asked to explain the last name structure in Spanish culture. Many in the US are already aware of the fact that Spanish speakers use a two-last-name combination; what a lot of people might not know is what each last name represents. The first last name is the father’s first last name of an individual, whereas the second last name is the mother’s first last name. You can refer to the simple graphic representation below of last names based on a short family tree structure. The generations are organized from newest at the top, to oldest at the bottom (father’s lineage on the left, mother’s lineage on the right):

One of the advantages of a system built on a paternal-maternal structure is that it is relatively easy to trace your family origins a few generations back. As I had this thought, I couldn’t resist the urge of checking into the true origin and meaning of my two last names (“García” and “Morán”). After my research, I ended up getting more information than anticipated.

I decided to start looking into my first last name (‘first’ followed by “last” sounds bizarre, I know, but you get what I mean); as it turns out, “García” has its origin in the Basque Country  and its possible meanings were “young warrior”, “young person” or “prince with beautiful eyes”. Though I would have never thought I had traces of Basque influence, the obvious proximity to the region where I was born made it logical and highly possible, so no surprises there.

The best part of the remaining research was yet to come. My mother had told me about the legend on the origin of “Morán”, by which the last name would be derived from the “Moranes” family line, the sons and daughters of a Christian knight married to the daughter of a Moorish king; “Mooress” translates into “mora” in Spanish, and therefore “Moranes” would refer to her descendants. It seemed plausible, but knowing it was a legend, I thought it would be wise to verify it. I did find accounts of the legend, but interestingly enough, I also found multiple resources indicating that “Morán” is in fact an Irish last name, derived from either of two native Gaelic Septs (O’Morain or O’Moghrain).  It seems that the jury is still out on that one, but it was apparent that among certain researchers, the Irish origin had more validity than the story my mother told me, since it was based on etymology rather than legend.

Assuming that “Morán” is indeed Irish, it would prove that migration was as much of a need centuries ago as it is today, as well as what that might imply for the original carriers of that last name migrating to distant lands: speaking more than just their native language in order to be able to settle in a foreign nation. How else could last names be exported beyond the native land of their people?