The importance of putting 'de' before the surname to have a pedigree: what is the story behind it?
Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Miguel de Unamuno, Miguel de Cervantes and his famous Don Quixote de la Mancha and Dulcinea del Toboso... If we continued the list, even beyond literature, we would think that no we are nobody if we do not carry the 'de' in front of the last name. Would we go to the Civil Registry to request a preposition just for the delirium of touching the flashy aristocratic?
In very few cases is it genuine
If the reason is to give more luster to the name, we better think about it first. It is true that some people drag this particle from its distant medieval roots, among which some great lineage could have occurred, but the vast majority were added over time on different dates and for different reasons. Therefore, the 'of' is not necessarily synonymous with lineage.
The origin dates back to the Middle Ages, when the nobles combined the paternal surnames with the place names of their domains or estates. It was a way of distinction for the different lineages and great houses that was maintained over time. If a Rodríguez conquered Castile, Rodríguez de Castilla passed. Subsequently, newly ennobled people sought to blend into their new surroundings by adding the particle to their name, even when it had nothing to do with a fief name. The possession of a good last name was from then on a kind of master key to public life.
So many Fernández demanded a touch of distinction
Long before, in the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, the custom of passing the name as an inheritance to descendants with the 'of' before it was already known. Let us remember that surnames were born as a need to identify not only the person, but also their belonging to a family member or a place, although sometimes they were decided based on a circumstance or physical quality and even the father's own name. For example, by Rodrigo, Rodríguez; by Fernando, Fernandez.
There came a time in Spain when it was necessary to differentiate between so many Rodríguez, Martínez, Álvarez and Fernández, among others. So they found the solution in the preposition 'of'. Another tradition led some women to incorporate their husband's last name by adding the 'de' to link with their own. It was a way of sheltering the whole family under that last name.
It is true that many wealthy clans and dynasties wear it, but its meaning does not always refer to the lordship that their ancestors held. Sometimes, it is simply an addition by pure whim. Until the 19th century, it was changed without difficulty, which was generating a kind of false nobility among some boastful Spaniards with stately airs. Some, instead of the 'of', preferred to distinguish themselves with a script between their two last names. The custom of prolonging it up to three has been lost in time and now the civil registry prevents it expressly. In case of requesting modification of surnames, the unions cannot exceed two words, without counting articles or particles.
The 'of' sounds good, and if they also managed tinsel and false appearances, there was no question about doing it. Sometimes it was done with a simple addition to the first surname and, for example, Vega became De la Vega. On other occasions, it was enough to separate it: Delafuente became De La Fuente. The last of the most common options was to add the name of the estate. González de Roda, for example.
During the French Revolution, the 'of' aroused suspicion
However, history has not always favored this decision. In France, the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789 forced many nobles to discreetly erase the preposition in order to save themselves. Feudal rights and manorial canons were abolished and the lands of the nobility were stripped of their special status as fiefs. Although they retained their titles, this was not the time to boast. Subsequently, the mirage of the presumptuous 'of' was recovered and today it is known as nom à particule or name with a particle.
The situation was quite chaotic until the end of the 19th century, when the Civil Registry began to regulate the use of surnames. Until then, the need to differentiate individuals in order to correctly record and identify them in tax, noble and genealogical records gave rise to quite extravagant episodes.
Today it is known that neither the compounds nor the preposition are indicators of lineage or nobility, although their furthest ascendants did. Nor does the absence of him prevents the title. If we have learned something, it is not the preposition what the nobility does. It works as a simple name of the name and there are more common people with the preposition than noble.
The Civil Registry imposes certain requirements
The procedure to change the last name is as simple as going to the Civil Registry and processing the request. It is enough with the mere statement of the will to change the applicant before the person in charge of the registration. The cases in which it is admitted are regulated in article 53 of the new Civil Registry Law.
It is a more flexible law whose main milestone is overcoming the historical prevalence of the paternal surname, being able to choose which surname prevails over the other. As for the preposition of the preposition 'de', it allows the preposition to the first surname that was usually proper or began with such. It also includes the conjunction option 'and' between the last names.
