# Why do so many Hispanic last names end with z? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355 "2011-06-13T20:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/61 "2011-06-15T17:40:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Any diminutive or hypocorism used as a patronymic is a patronymic, the same way that a completely unaltered given name that is used as a patronymic is also a patronymic. Could you define patronymic then, please? There is already some confusion in this thread (and in my head). If I read you right, it’s - Any surname with an element “son / daughter / child of” + father / male ancestor’s given name - - Any surname based on the father / male ancestor’s given name + possessive¹ - - Any surname based on the father / male ancestor’s given name What about - Any surname based on the father / male ancestor’s nickname (Short, Brown)? ¹Incidentally the explanation for the Italian names in -i above: fossilized genitive back when Latin / Old Italian nouns had cases. ETA: This is something of a cross-posting, since I didn’t see your definition when I hit “post.” I’m still curious about whether nicknames would count, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/62 "2011-06-16T04:43:55Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Maybe, but I wasn’t necessarily thinking that patronymic _-ez_ was Latin-derived. Could have been borrowed from Germanic, or could be holdover from a substrate language. There’s also the Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian _ić_ (roughly “eech”), Russian _-ovich, -yevich, -yich_, and Romanian _-escu_, which seem related to me as well – to each other and to _-ez_. Of course, I’m probably wrong 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/63 "2011-06-16T08:31:23Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Names beginning with “Fitz-” (Fitzpatrick, Fitzgerald, etc) are also “son of” names. I vaguely recall reading that bastard sons of monarchs were saddled with these in particular. Oft-repeated but inaccurate. The “Fitz” names (Fitzgerald, Fitzhenry, etc.) come from the Norman French _fils de_, “son of”, and have no particular connetation of illegitimacy. The confusion comes thanks to the surname Fitzroy, which was, indeed, the name given to illegitimate sons of kings (_fils de roi_, “son of the king”). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/64 "2011-06-16T10:00:05Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > Oft-repeated but inaccurate. The “Fitz” names (Fitzgerald, Fitzhenry, etc.) come from the Norman French _fils de_, “son of”, and have no particular connetation of illegitimacy. > > The confusion comes thanks to the surname Fitzroy, which was, indeed, the name given to illegitimate sons of kings (_fils de roi_, “son of the king”). Vaguely misremembered, then. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/65 "2011-06-16T10:42:20Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Not a good one. Wiktionary says so. > > [Sancho - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sancho) > > as does Wikiname, which pretty stupidly says in one sentence that the name is of Latin origin and then in the next that it “may be of Basque origin.” I guess it could be both: a Basque name that was then identified with the Latin Sanctus. Isn’t Diego, while generally considered a Hispanic form of Jacob, also derived from a name from a substratum language? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/66 "2011-06-16T13:24:47Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > Oft-repeated but inaccurate. The “Fitz” names (Fitzgerald, Fitzhenry, etc.) come from the Norman French _fils de_, “son of”, and have no particular connetation of illegitimacy. > > The confusion comes thanks to the surname Fitzroy, which was, indeed, the name given to illegitimate sons of kings (_fils de roi_, “son of the king”). There were also a couple of mistresses of monarchs/heirs (George III’s sons IIRC) whose surnames were Fitzsomething, which addeed to the "king’s bastard) meme. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/67 "2011-06-16T13:27:00Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > I guess it could be both: a Basque name that was then identified with the Latin Sanctus. Isn’t Diego, while generally considered a Hispanic form of Jacob, also derived from a name from a substratum language? Nope – it’s from Di Iago, which in turn is from Iacobus. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355/68 "2011-06-16T14:23:20Z")
Okay, but what I’m suggesting is that it comes from both, i.e. that it is a variant of Iacobus, but that its actual form was influenced by another preexisting name. Or am I thinking of another Hispanic name? I remember hearing something similar to that here on the SDMB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-hispanic-last-names-end-with-z/585355.md?page=3)