He last name of a person, believe it or not, can have the most extravagant bases. Do not think that because you were born in Mexico your last name originates from Aztec lands. Although there are many autochthonous surnames, the truth is that you have a good chance of having one of Latin origin or of germanic origin. Just as it happens with words, in the case of names, these also come from a language that is not always Spanish, where Latin and some Germanics are the ones that dominate Latin American surnames.
The story goes that part of the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by the Romans, who spoke Latin and after the decline of the empire, the Germanic tribe of the Visigoths, whose language was Gothic, was established. Although the latter abandoned their language and adopted Roman, the presence of their lexicon can be seen in certain words, such as family nomenclatures.
That is why we ask you to tell us your last name to know if you have Latin origin or if its bases are germanic origin. And here we will give you a list of the most popular surnames in our country that have Latin and Germanic roots.
5 surnames with Latin and Germanic origin
- Hernández: with more than half a million records in four years, it is the last name most popular in Mexico. It is the patronymic of Hernando, but it comes from Fernando, which in turn comes from the Gothic Firthunands, whose translation would be “he who dares (to everything) in order to preserve peace”.
- Martínez: comes from Martín, a name of Latin origin which is Martinus and is consecrated to Mars, the god of war. From 2017 to 2020, it had more than 400,000 records, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
- López: comes from Lope, which comes from the word wolf and it has Latin origin lupus, which has for its root the Indo-European ulkuos, “evil” or “thirsty for blood”.
- González: it is also a patronymic of Gonzalo that comes from germanic origin Gundisalv, which means “the combat genius”.
- Rodríguez: from Rodrigo, who has germanic origin Hruotriks, “rich in glory” or “mighty by fame.”