3 ms·

There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are prob

by narag 7y ago

There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. Crypto-judaism was a damning suspicion for a long time. A prime minister from my hometown changed his name from Méndez to Mendizábal. Former sounds jew, while the later sounds basque. Also he didn't mention where he was from. Actually, almost nobody in my hometown knows he was a local, though it also might be because he confiscated most properties of Catholic Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1bal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_%C3%81lvarez_Mendiz%C3%A1...

vsadu 7y ago
>There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. That's Jewish propaganda. Lobo (López) is one of the most common surnames in Spain. León is the name of one of the biggest kingdoms of Spain, and currently a province. If we took that at face value, most Spaniards would be descendants of Jews, which is ludicrous. Not sure about Aguilar though.
narag 7y ago
Replying to the dead comment: you're probably right about León, but López comes from Lope (as in De Vega).
andrepd 7y ago
>We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. If I remember correctly, that is an popular myth. Why should it be the case?
- narag 7y ago
  I heard it from my History teacher [1]. Where did he hear from, no idea. But someone seems to think it's not so outrageous: https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-jewish-given.html https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-... Edit: I forgot to say that true jew names would have been impossible to keep. They had to change names when they converted, choosing sometimes an "old christian" name to blend in, or maybe something with some cultural meaning for them. There are lists with names compiled from Santo Oficio trial records, that include those names indeed, but also other very common, just for the reasons I mentioned. I still believe the animal hint is true because most of these names are unusual. [1] His name is Aguilar, but he's a communist with very little sympathy for anything Israel, so I doubt he was trying to spread "jewish propaganda" like other commenter said.

by narag 7y ago

vsadu 7y ago

>There were many jews that, more or less sincerely, converted to stay. We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. That's Jewish propaganda. Lobo (López) is one of the most common surnames in Spain. León is the name of one of the biggest kingdoms of Spain, and currently a province. If we took that at face value, most Spaniards would be descendants of Jews, which is ludicrous. Not sure about Aguilar though.

narag 7y ago

Replying to the dead comment: you're probably right about León, but López comes from Lope (as in De Vega).

andrepd 7y ago

>We that have a family name that references an animal, like Lobo, León or Aguilar, are probably descendents of jews. If I remember correctly, that is an popular myth. Why should it be the case?

narag 7y ago
I heard it from my History teacher [1]. Where did he hear from, no idea. But someone seems to think it's not so outrageous: https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-jewish-given.html https://bloodandfrogs.com/2011/05/animals-and-name-pairs-in-... Edit: I forgot to say that true jew names would have been impossible to keep. They had to change names when they converted, choosing sometimes an "old christian" name to blend in, or maybe something with some cultural meaning for them. There are lists with names compiled from Santo Oficio trial records, that include those names indeed, but also other very common, just for the reasons I mentioned. I still believe the animal hint is true because most of these names are unusual. [1] His name is Aguilar, but he's a communist with very little sympathy for anything Israel, so I doubt he was trying to spread "jewish propaganda" like other commenter said.