Friday, June 30, 2006

All the names have been changed.

In Mexico - a child goes by his given name his fathers last name and his mother's last name (maiden).

When my mother, let's call her Victoria Anderson, was visiting she got SO confused when they asked her for her full name. She wouldn't be an Anderson at all - But a Victoria Smith(her father's last name) Johnson (her mother's maiden name).

For example:
Oscar Jones Apple marries Juliana Anderson Temple, they have a boy Alex Jones Anderson and a girl Juana Jones Anderson.
Alex gets married to Fulana Gomez Hernandez - she doesn't change her name but their baby boy's named Ricardo Jones Gomez.
Juana gets married to Marco Polo Zorro - she doesn't change her name but their baby girl is named Linda Polo Jones

And that is just how it is. Got it?

In Egypt - so my cousin tells me - it's the fathers first name that gets passed on. She is known as Kay Mike even though she is a Kay Smith state side. Her hubby's name is Joe so now their boy is Mike (named after grandpa) Joe. There is more to that name thing but that's the only part I know.

All this stuff intrigues me. I'd like to learn more about how names are done in different cultures - or I should say, how children are identified, 'cause that's really what names are - identifiers.

Can you help Owlhaven? From your ABC of the word I know we could get some answers if we ask. And if anyone else can give some information I think it could be a lot of fun seeing how names get passed on one generation to the next.

3 comments:

Maria said...

I learned this from my teacher's aide the last year I was teaching --

In India your father's first name becomes your last name and women don't change their name when they get married, it dishonors their father.

A family has 3 last names, mother's last name, father's last name, and children's last name (which is the father's first name)

boomama said...

Your post made me laugh because it reminded me that we had to figure out what someone's name would be on a Spanish test in high school, and I TOTALLY failed that part. :-) It IS interesting, though.

owlhaven said...

Here's what I know:

In Ethiopia and Korea both, a woman keeps her maiden name on marriage.

In Korea a child goes by his father's family name, which actually comes first. For example, Lee Yung Jin. Lee is the family name. Yung Jin is the 'first' name.

In Ethiopia, last names are rarely used, and 'last' names are derived from your dad's FIRST name.