Patricia Steele - We are all proud of our Spanish names, but there are so many incorrect spellings over the last 100 years on documents. Our people slip by us because of the naming problems.. Our family names are Silvan, Silban, Sylvan and sometimes Silva (although I believe that is a Portuguese spelling). Then, there is Ruiz, Ruis, Rui and Rooy. So many other families... Carbahal, Carbajal, Rodriguez and Rodrigues, Gonzales and Gonzalez, Alonso and Alonzo, there is no end to the spellings. The emotional importance didnt hit home for me until the other day when I left the doctors office and with 4 printouts in my hand. Every page had my name on it several times --- all spelled STEEL. Wheres the E, I wondered? I used to just correct the names in my genealogy quest but I found myself scratching an E over the paperwork and laughed afterward. Funny how proud we are of our names and how important they are that they are spelled correctly... For example, my abuelo would be stunned to see his gravestone etched with Benaldo R(Romero) Ruiz instead of Bernardo. And my abuelitas gravestone is etched Manuella S (Silvan) instead of Manuela. I am so proud of everyones intent to document family names for those descendants who follow us after we are gone.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 15:00:01 +0000