Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 11:57:31 -0400

From: Alan Baragona baragonaa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VAX.VMI.EDU

Subject: Re: (Garcia) Marquez



Ron Butters wrote:



Alan Baragona writes:



I get annoyed when people refer

to Gabriel Garcia

Marquez as "Marquez" instead of

"Garcia Marquez."



Could somebody please explain the protocol here?



As I recall, when I lived in Mexico, people explained to me that "Garcia" was

the matronymic and "Marquez" the patronymic--and the matronymic was

frequently dropped in all but the most formal of situations. Is my memory

wrong? Or are there different practices in different parts of the

Spanish-speaking world? It seems to me that people frequently referred to ech

other by their "last" names rather than their full family names.





I don't know about Mexico, but I've lived in Colombia, where Garcia

Marquez hails from, and there 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.



Alan B.