Why does New Mexico governor Bill Richardson have such a WASP first and esp. last name? As I understand it, he is hispanic, isn’t he? Where then did he get such an Anglo-Saxon name?
(BTW, I assume using “WASP” this way is not insulting. If it is somehow insulting or indelicate, I apologize for that 
.)
Thank you in advance to all who reply
I believe “Anglo” is the term you are looking for.
Richardson’s mother was from Oaxaca and met his father when he was working in Mexico City. He was born in Pasadena, CA.
And Richardson is named after his father (and his grandfather.) In any case, “Hispanic” is practically defined by self-identification and there are plenty of whites who also identify as Hispanic.
White as in fair complexioned Spanish surnamed folks?
Hispanic is not a “genetic” race. It’s a culture and you belong to it mostly if you consider that you do (other people may consider you a banana, but that’s a secondary problem).
If some guy born in Saigon of a French-Vietnamese mother and coal-Black Marine father, raised in Canada and Hungary, later moved to a Spanish-speaking country, learned the language and started identifying himseld as being “Hispanic”, he would be (I have left out “acquired the nationality” on purpose, since it is not a requirement). Mind you, his neighbors would probably nickname him Chino 
but there’s nothing wrong with that.
People born in the United States whose parents came from XZY are considered XYZ-Americans. People born in Hispanic countries whose parents came from wherever are considered as Panamanians or Costa Ricans or Spaniards or… “hm? Looks a bit funny? Yeah, that’s because his parents were from Vietnam; but he’s from here.”
And what the hell, Bill is just a nickname. If he was named after his da then it’s short for William… but it could be short for Guillermo just as well!
Indeed. The finest assistant I ever had was a young woman with the last name ‘Lopez’. But by appearance she was blond and blue and could have been on the Norwegian Volleyball team or something.
Let’s face it. It’s an odd country that way.
