# i just heard the one about thomas edison being mexican **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529 "2005-09-01T01:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rlanpo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@rlanpo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rlanpo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/1 "2005-09-01T01:35:52Z")
today at a training about culturally relevant teaching the presenter insisted that thomas alva edison was part mexican. her reasoning: 1. someone had told her 2. his middle name is “alva” 3. there are schools where mexican-americans attend that are named for him 4. thomas can also be tomas :smack: now it would be great to show this cultural relevance to my students, but this was not quite compelling evidence. i needed documentation. i searched all over google and google scholar and all i got was encarta saying he is dutch and british and another site referring to the legend that he was actually a part-mexican orphan adopted by an american couple. i just wanted some more backup on this story to reinforce that what we want to be true or politically useful may not be, actually. ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/2 "2005-09-01T02:05:56Z")
I don’t see any “Mexican” names on his family tree here: [http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/thomas-edison/](http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/thomas-edison/) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/3 "2005-09-01T02:43:04Z")
1. Hearsay. Objection sustained. 2. Alva is a common middle name in my family tree on my mother’s side and there is no Mexican blood in any of us from what I can tell. 3. Lots of Mexican-Americans attend schools named after Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt, I don’t believe any of them are Mexican-American. 4. So everyone that has a middle name that easily translates into a Hispanic name is Mexican? Should we now call former presidents Jorge Washington, Ricardo Nixon, and Juan Kennedy? I say the presenter is whacko. ---
**Author:** ![rlanpo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@rlanpo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rlanpo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/4 "2005-09-01T03:21:18Z")
thank you! now unfortunately i must disillusion my fellow teachers. that will be fun. by fun i mean we’ll play shoot the messenger and i’ll be the messenger. whee. ---
**Author:** ![ALVAED](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@ALVAED](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALVAED)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/5 "2014-04-15T22:59:04Z")
Yes, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico. Refer to the link below. [http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html](http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/6 "2014-04-15T23:07:42Z")
It’s taking longer than we thought. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/7 "2014-04-16T01:15:17Z")
> [@ALVAED](#): > > Yes, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico. Refer to the link below. > [http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html](http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html) [Here is a long discussion](http://www.nuestrosranchos.com/en/node/17155) among Mexicans, with one lady valiantly struggling to keep the facts straight, (but playing whack-a-mole in the process). Note that just as Martinez seems to base his story on his own efforts to determine ancestry by perceived bone structure, the various persons in that thread hoping to find a Mexican connection are relying on anecdotes and the resemblance of names and wind up having Edison born in multiple villages, (or even being born in the U.S. to a rich lady fleeing the scandal of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy–although why she would move to Ohio and settle down with a Canadian who already had six kids is never explained). This appears to be a Mexican urban legend that can be safely ignored. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/8 "2014-04-16T01:26:38Z")
I heard Beethoven was partly black or at the least, “dark.” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/9 "2014-04-16T01:32:32Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > I heard Beethoven was partly black or at the least, “dark.” [The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2598/was-ludwig-van-beethoven-of-african-ancestry). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/10 "2014-04-16T02:01:38Z")
> [@ALVAED](#): > > [http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html](http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html) Holy Moley! That cites an article from The Theosophist! I’ll lay you 8 to 1 that not a single article ever printed in The Theosophist was ever correct. And it started publication in 1879. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/11 "2014-04-16T02:40:44Z")
Alva may be a Mexican surname. But it’s also a common given name in Germany and Scandinavia. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/12 "2014-04-16T05:15:23Z")
Alva is not a Mexican surname, at least if people can spell. The Hispanic surname is Alba, meaning “white” or “the break of dawn, before sunup”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/13 "2014-04-16T15:48:53Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Alva is not a Mexican surname, at least if people can spell. The Hispanic surname is Alba, meaning “white” or “the break of dawn, before sunup”. B and V are often interchanged in Spahish, and Spanish speaking people from one region often cannot hear the difference when the sound is spoken by people from another region. Hence, Cordoba/Cordova and numerous other examples. In Central America, the letter of the alphabet, when spelling out words or serial numbers, is often called “B-grande” and “V-chico” in order to distinguish them. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/14 "2014-04-16T16:31:21Z")
> [@rlanpo](#): > > today at a training about culturally relevant teaching the presenter insisted that thomas alva edison was part mexican. > > her reasoning: > > 1. someone had told her > 2. his middle name is “alva” > 3. there are schools where mexican-americans attend that are named for him > 4. thomas can also be tomas By this logic, my grandfather was a Crow-Mexican who boxed for a living. His first name was Alva; his middle name was Dempsey; he lived in Hardin, MT, which is right on the edge of the Crow reservation and is about 40% Native American as of 2010. The logic is inescapable! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/15 "2014-04-16T16:51:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > B and V are often interchanged in Spahish, and Spanish speaking people from one region often cannot hear the difference when the sound is spoken by people from another region. Hence, Cordoba/Cordova and numerous other examples. In Central America, the letter of the alphabet, when spelling out words or serial numbers, is often called “B-grande” and “V-chico” in order to distinguish them. Two different points: 1. B grande and B chica or B alta and B baja and they haven’t been different phonemes except in Argentinian Spanish for quite a while, which would actually add to confusion but see below. Uve chica is akin to ATM machine and letters are all (f), never chicos. 2. Alba is one of those words whose spelling has been fixed since before there was a Spanish language, it’s straight from Latin. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/16 "2014-04-16T17:07:50Z")
Regardless, just looking through LinkedIn and searching on “Alva” surname in Mexico maxes out the results (100), so while I’m sure it’s not the dominant spelling, it doesn’t seem to be all _that_ rare. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/17 "2014-04-16T17:25:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Two different points: > > 1. B grande and B chica or B alta and B baja and they haven’t been different phonemes except in Argentinian Spanish for quite a while, which would actually add to confusion but see below. Uve chica is akin to ATM machine and letters are all (f), never chicos. > > 2. Alba is one of those words whose spelling has been fixed since before there was a Spanish language, it’s straight from Latin. Well there you go. Edison came from Latin America. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/18 "2014-04-16T17:51:44Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Two different points: > > 1. B grande and B chica or B alta and B baja and they haven’t been different phonemes except in Argentinian Spanish for quite a while, which would actually add to confusion but see below. Uve chica is akin to ATM machine and letters are all (f), never chicos. > > 2. Alba is one of those words whose spelling has been fixed since before there was a Spanish language, it’s straight from Latin. It’s important to note that “correct” Spanish spellings frequently become incorrect ones during US Immigration (or at least they did in the 19th century) because our customs officials weren’t very particular about that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/19 "2014-04-16T18:30:24Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s important to note that “correct” Spanish spellings frequently become incorrect ones during US Immigration (or at least they did in the 19th century) because our customs officials weren’t very particular about that sort of thing. If this is a reference to Ellis Island officials changing immigrant names, well, not only did this never happen but there never was even an opportunity for them to ever change a name. [Random one of zillions of cites](http://www.genealogy.com/88_donna.html). ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529/20 "2014-04-16T18:36:31Z")
> [@ALVAED](#): > > Yes, Thomas Alva Edison was born in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico. Refer to the link below. > [http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html](http://www.eddiemartinezart.com/Stories/edison.html) There may have been a Thomas Alva Edison or Tomas Alba Edison or any number of Edisons born in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico, but the Thomas Alva Edison who is credited with holding over 1,000 US patents was born in Milan, Ohio, U.S on February 11, 1847. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-heard-the-one-about-thomas-edison-being-mexican/319529.md?page=2)