Je 10.01 ptm 2002.02.04 -0300, Daniel CASTRO LANDEIRA skribis
>"Donald J. HARLOW" wrote:
> >
> > (*) I am assuming that your name is Spanish, not Portuguese, and that
> > "Castro" is your paternal family name. Please advise if I am wrong;
> > "Landeira" looks vaguely Portuguese to me, and "Castro" could actually be
> > either (as with the Brazilian poet Castro Alves).
> >
>
>    You are quite right. Castro is my father's surname and Landeira my
>mother's; both are of Spanish (Galician) origin.
>
>    The rule for compound surnames in Spain and Spanish-speaking America
>is: paternal surname comes first, maternal last.

Yes, this I learned from my wife and her family.

>    In Portugal and Brazil it's the other way round: maternal first,
>paternal last. (Also I suppose this is the American usage, at least it's
>what I find in the biographies of US presidents: John Fitzgerald Kennedy
>was the son of Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, Richard Milhous Nixon
>was the son of Francis Nixon and Hannah Milhous, etc.)

This is _an_ American usage, but not _the_ -- there is no specific rule in
the English-speaking United States for what the second of three names
should be, or even whether there should be one. In my case, for instance, I
am Donald James Harlow, the James being my father's personal name (his
middle name, in turn, was "George" after his father; and my only son's name
is David Donald Harlow). Some people, however, use the system you quote;
others may find themselves stuck with a Catholic saint's name in the
middle; in other cases, it may be completely arbitrary or not even exist. I
have a granddaughter whose name is D'arby Harlow James, after the system
you quote; and another granddaughter (via another daughter) the source of
whose middle name I still don't know.

>   As for the surname "Castro", it can be Spanish (Castilian), Spanish
>(Galician), Portuguese or even Italian. It was given in the Middle Ages
>to someone who lived near the place where had existed a Roman fortress
>or military camp ("castrum" in Latin).

Interesting. This would make it identical (in source and meaning) with the
English name -- not as common as it used to be, I think -- Chester.


-- Don HARLOW
http://www.webcom.com/~donh/don/don.html

Pasis longa voj'
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