No know-it-all just Googler: Compound surnames are still mainly patronymic: PENA-Nieto is PENA, not

[UTUSN]

Nieto. What set this off was a news item referring to Mexican president PENA-Nieto as "NIETO." No, if the compound format is ditched, then it's "PENA" (father's surname), not "Nieto". Well, only if rules about *anything* apply.

As a Boomer at the older edge of boomer-ism (1947) and the scion of strong women (mother & 2 much older sisters) AND of a good father, I am a natural feminist, have voted for just about as many women as men, and I watched women since the '70s keeping their family names while at the same time I pondered that the name they were keeping was their FATHER's name, still patriarchal.

**********QUOTE****

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Pe%C3%B1a_Nieto
father, Gilberto Enrique Peña del Mazo, was an electrical engineer; his mother, María del Perpetuo Socorro Ofelia Nieto Sánchez, a schoolteacher.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs

The first surname is usually the father's first surname, and the second the mother's first surname. In recent years, the order of the surnames can be decided at birth. Often, the practice is to use one given name and the first surname only (e.g. Miguel de Unamuno), with the full name being used in legal, formal, and documentary matters, or for disambiguation when the first surname is very common (e.g. Federico García Lorca or José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero).[1] In these cases, it is common to use only the second surname, as in “Lorca” or “Zapatero”. Note that this does not affect alphabetization: discussions of "Lorca", the Spanish poet, must be alphabetized in an index under “García Lorca", never "Lorca".

*******UNQUOTE****

[PoliticAverse]

1. And still stupid. n/t

[UTUSN]

2. Moi?!1

[PoliticAverse]

3. Compound surnames. n/t

[UTUSN]

5. Ah. Relieved. Too soon for my being flamed!1

[shanny]

10. Not at all, when you dig a little deeper.

A close friend of mine is named ______ _____ Gonzalez (father's family name) Nahua (mother's family name) de Cortes (modifier of mother's family name--which indicates that her lineage goes back to the native interpreter who was Cortez's "wife" (slave is prob. closer to the truth) and bore him a son).

I think it is way cool to be able to trace your mother's background as well as your father's. And interesting for him from an historical standpoint although uncomfortable in reality: my friend does not use that part of his name because of all the negative associations with conquistadors etc in Mexico, where he now resides (American citizen, btw, who returned to his parents' homeland).

Still. History is so cool.

[Ms. Toad]

4. How is this related to Google? n/t

[UTUSN]

6. Uh, I Googled to get the rules?!1

[Ms. Toad]

7. I was expecting it to relate Trump taking Google for a spin -

and when that wasn't there, I didn't see an obvious connection.

[UTUSN]

8. Thanks for clarifying. I'm jumpy about being so inscrutable here!1

[Ms. Toad]

9. No problem. n/t