Naming Conventions Proposal for Argentina

Question

With the growing interest in developing profiles for ancestors from Argentina, we find that we are in the need of naming conventions specific to that country. 

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or approve of the guidelines! If you are also interested in helping, you can check out the Latin America Project and add an answer to join in this G2G post. Thank you!

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Con el creciente interés en desarrollar perfiles para antepasados ​​de Argentina, nos encontramos con la necesidad de reglas de nomenclatura específicas para ese país. 

¡Avíseme si tiene alguna sugerencia o si aprueba las pautas! Si también está interesado en ayudar, puede consultar el Proyecto de América Latina y agregar una respuesta para unirse en esta publicación. ¡Gracias!

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Comments

A significant number of French Basques immigrated to Argentina in the 1800s. Did they adopt the Spanish surname practices?

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Probaly, George. Most immigrants adopted the Spanish form of their first, christian or given name at least. Church and census records of that century show it to be that way. Sometimes the last name would be changed too (not intentionally, for the most part) if the spelling was too alien for the local clerk and the immigrant person was maybe illiterate or didn't speak enough Spanish as to correct him. In early 1900 it became mandatory that all immigrants were recorded with the Spanish form of their given name.

So if you are looking for a Basque emigrated relative, try the Spanish form of their given name and alternative spellings for the surname. A good place to start is here: CEMLA . Good luck!

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Thank you for your answer.  I lived in Buenos Aires for six months when I was fourteen years old.  I had considered the Spanish name order for naming people.  However, it is such a mixture of people like the United States, I was not a hundred percent sure.  Our housekeeper was from Portugal, our neighbors were German Jews, and I went to the American School with kids from all over the world.  There was a French School, and also, a British School.  I am sure up to a point it had to be regulated.  Thank you again,

Katherine Atherton Wright

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Hi, Katherine! Yes, here in City of Buenos Aires we have communities of people from a lot of different countries, being the entry point for overseas visitors and migrants. It is a bit different in other Provinces.

But regarding the naming, until the late 1980' we had different laws than after. One of them regulated namings, even of those born in the country (there was a list of allowed names, all in Spanish form). After regaining of democracy and the 1994 reform of our Constitution, that restrain was annuled and naturals and immigrants alike were allowed to have the names they or they parents wanted to. Or what their passport says it's their name.

Answer 1

Great job, Midy! Thank you!

Comments

cien por cien de acuerdo

Answer 2

Hello Mindy,   the expresion "nombrar convenciones" is not a clear translation of "naming conventions". I will instead recomend "reglas de nomenclatura" .

Comments

I've changed that - thank you.

Answer 3

Mindy,

I am starting to think that this good question should be divided into two parts.

Part 1:

Forenames or given names (nombres)

How do we identify an individual member of a close family?

The 'Proper First Name' and 'Middle Name' fields in Wikitree are not very helpful. Some would support the idea of removing the 'Middle Name' field from Wikitree.

Answer 4

Mindy,

Part 2:
Surnames or family names (apellidos)

I am still digesting Cristina's good information. There is a huge variety of options.

Wikitree should make it easy to create a surname(s) for a profile and then make it easy for any related family to find this profile.

Comments

You can go with a standard LNAB and use one from the father and one from the mother, so can include the first surname of both. 

i.e. Father Manuel Lopez Garcia, mother Camila Rodrigues Fernandez: Child would be [child] Lopez Rodrigues. WikiTree naming fields accommodate this nicely.

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Cheers Mindy. Your comment makes perfect sense to me while I am trying to follow Spanish law. I am not very sure about the best place to record surnames in Wikitree that include 'y' and 'de'.

I chose to split the original question into 2 parts. My answer to the first part about given names is simple. 'Please do not use the Middle Field in Wikitree'.

I fold.