The term “Hispanic” means Spanish-speaking. Different races and ethnicities are Hispanic, but most Hispanic ancestors can be traced to Spain, Mexico, or Central and South America. Spain colonized not only Latin America but parts of the Caribbean and North America as well. Spanish speakers, like most Europeans, also migrated frequently. Family researchers may find their Spanish-speaking ancestors spread around the world.
The good news is that records for Hispanic family genealogy are plentiful. “Some groups are harder to research than others,” advises somoprimos.com, an Hispanic heritage website. “Spanish records are the most complete with records dating back a thousand years.” While obtaining records may be a challenge (not all are available online), family researchers must also make sure they understand the traditional naming system used by Spanish-speakers.
The Hispanic Surname Tradition
Usually, a child receives one first name and two surnames, for example, Juan Garcia Ortega. The first surname is the father’s surname and the second is the mother’s surname. Each parent’s paternal surname carries on to the next generation. If Juan Garcia Ortega marries Antonia Hernandez Morales, their child will carry the surname Garcia Hernandez.
When married, a Hispanic woman traditionally adds her husband’s name with the prefix “de”, as in Antonia Hernandez Morales de Garcia. Extremely lengthy surnames could result if families decided to carry on mothers’ surnames as well. Reasons for forming these “compound names” include preserving the surnames of illustrious ancestors or because a family had a common surname (Garcia, Lopez) and wanted to distinguish their branch from others.
Advantages of Tracing Family Ancestry with Spanish Surnames
While confusing to English speakers, this system does have its advantages when performing genealogical research. Finding one ancestor should automatically reveal at least both parents’ surnames. It also helps link different relatives as well as distinguishing relatives who share one surname into their specific branches.
Genealogical Research in the Spanish Language: Translators and Language Courses
Researchers of Hispanic family genealogy are also fortunate that the language barrier they face is a Spanish one. Many people in the United States have at least a cursory knowledge of Spanish, and Spanish translation resources are easy to find. Some options for translations or learning Spanish include:
- Relatives
- Local classes
- Local tutor
- Berlitz Language Course
- Rosetta Stone Language Course
- Pimsleur Language Course
Word Lists for Hispanic Family Genealogy
If full translation or becoming fluent is not an option, a family researcher can opt for genealogical word lists, which will list common Spanish genealogy phrases and their translation. There are many of these word lists in Spanish available online. Family Search offers a glossary of Spanish genealogical terms, and Awesome Genealogy has research form letters written in Spanish. Somosprimos.com has a list of colonial Spanish terms and document related phrases.
