Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 14:10:13 -0400 From: Alan Baragona Subject: Re: Garcia (Marquez) Ron Butters wrote: > > Alan B.writes: > > *******. . . in Colombia, where Garcia > Marquez hails from . . . the first surname is the patronymic and > the the second is the matronymic and is frequently dropped. Gabriel's > father's name was Garcia. I am relatively sure that this is the > practice throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including Mexico, but I > could be wrong.********* > > I'm sure you are right--and for Mexico as well. I knew that ONE of the names > could be dropped--maybe I was mixing up Spanish and Russian? (Does anybody > know about Russian?) > > And why, by the way, did Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe have such a complicated > name? > > Anyway, thanks for the explanation--and thanks for being polite and gentle > about it. I will file this in my memory blank. Ah, polite and gentle are my middle names. One way to keep the order straight (which I should have mentioned in the first place) is to remember that it's Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Calling Garcia Marquez "Marquez" is like calling Cervantes "Saavedra." I suppose "Garcia" is such a common name that it's preferable to use both patro- and matro- for him, whereas there's only one Cervantes worth talking about. In Russian the patronymic comes before the surname, and its form is based on the father's first name ("Nikolaievich"--sp?), with -skaya instead of -evich being added for a daughter. Then there's Icelandic, which really confuses things by using a Russian-type patronymic as the ONLY surname, so that Eric Ericsson and Ingrid Ericsdottr can be brother and sister. But it's a small island. Alan B.