# Paquito D'Rivera and his apostrophe **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 21, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912 "2025-03-21T15:05:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/1 "2025-03-21T15:05:46Z")
Why is an apostrophe used when Rivera starts with a consonant? Why not de Rivera? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/2 "2025-03-21T15:25:31Z")
For others scratching their heads like me: Paquito D’Rivera is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. > **[Paquito D'Rivera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paquito_D%27Rivera)** > > Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras (born 4 June 1948), known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established himself as a bandleader in the United States. His smooth saxophone tone and his frequent combination of Latin jazz and classical music have become his trademarks. > Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras was born on 4 June 1948 in Havana, Cuba. His father played classi... * * * * * * He was born Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras and chose the D’Rivera based on a French naming style. * * * * * * He lives in North Jersey, overlooking the Hudson and thus a great view of NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/3 "2025-03-21T18:27:38Z")
There you have it: Pseudo-French spelling. Reminds me of the time Mistinguette chopped the final -e off her name to go with her short hair, becoming famous as Mistinguett (which is pseudo-English). ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/4 "2025-03-21T18:34:42Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > For others scratching their heads like me Thanks for that, I thought maybe he was a South American revolutionary or something. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/5 "2025-03-21T18:34:56Z")
So it’s just a grace note? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/6 "2025-03-21T19:02:27Z")
No, it’s the Crux of the Biscuit. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/7 "2025-03-21T20:23:27Z")
D’Souza is a fairly common Portuguese-language last name. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/8 "2025-03-22T01:20:37Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > There you have it: Pseudo-French spelling. IIRC you are a linguist. But French doesn’t contract “de” when the next word starts with a consonant. Jeanne d’Arc but Jean de Florette or Jean de la Fontaine ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/9 "2025-03-22T03:43:39Z")
I know, that was the whole point of my calling it “pseudo-French.” Imitating the appearance of French like a cargo cult without understanding how it works. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/10 "2025-03-22T07:17:59Z")
Snapple used to sell a cream soda under the name “Crème d’Vanille.” At one point, they ran a TV commercial showing French-speaking customers pointing out that it should actually be “de Vanille.” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/11 "2025-03-22T16:11:05Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > D’Souza is a fairly common Portuguese-language last name. Perhaps the most famous person (for those of us on the SDMB) named D’Souza is Dinesh D’souza, an American conservative commentator who was born in India and came to the U.S. The Portuguese ruled Goa, on the western coast of India, in around the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Dinesh D’souza was born in somewhere around there. It appears that many Indians living around there have Portuguese last names despite not being of Portugese descent. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/12 "2025-03-22T17:39:52Z")
What about Rosie O’Donnell? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/13 "2025-03-22T18:30:38Z")
That’s an Irish or Scottish name. Apostrophe rules are different. BTW, there is a surname D’Leau which I found a few instances of by googling. One of the thoughts on the origin of the name D’Lo (town in Mississippi) is a modification of D’Leau. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/14 "2025-03-22T19:03:07Z")
D’Leau apparently comes from the French words for “from the water”, which are “de”, “le”, and “eau”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/15 "2025-03-22T20:35:25Z")
Then there’s former New York Jets offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, whose unusual first name was inspired by Father Ralph de Bricassart of _The Thorn Birds_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/16 "2025-03-22T20:58:22Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Ralph de Bricassart There’s a last name de Briquessart in France. “Brique” means “brick”. _The Thorn Birds_ takes place in Australia. Apparently someone in de Bricassart’s ancentry changed their name from de Briquessart to de Bricassart. How far back itsn’t clear. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/17 "2025-03-22T21:20:29Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > ancentry changed their name from de Briquessart to de Bricassart. How far back itsn’t I meant “ancestry” and “isn’t”, of course. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/18 "2025-03-23T02:15:31Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > D’Souza is a fairly common Portuguese-language last name. It sure is, Brazilian too. However, have you seen that spelling more than “de Souza”? > [@mixdenny](#): > > What about Rosie O’Donnell? Well that would be **Ó** **Domhnaill** if you wanted to make it more “Irish”, i.e., there is no apostrophe (I believe it is an accent). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/19 "2025-03-23T02:18:25Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > However, have you seen that spelling more than “de Souza”? I associate it with Indian ethnicity (as Wendell\_Wagner noted). There are Canadian journalists named Francis D’Souza and Steven D’Souza, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912/20 "2025-03-23T12:35:55Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > D’Leau apparently comes from the French words for “from the water”, which are “de”, “le”, and “eau”. In proper French it would be _de l’eau_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paquito-drivera-and-his-apostrophe/1015912.md?page=2)