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In my expirience, the same names that are popular today were popular back then. Some I've found are Garza, Elizondo, Martinez, Sosa, Garcia, Rodriguez, Amaya, Ruiz, Reyes, Villareal, Barerra, Trevino, Gonzelez, Iglesias
Though in some instances people only went by one surname, but in many documents they are refered to with bith their mothers and fathers surname (father's first, mother's second). It wouldn't have been uncommon to have multiple surnames. Though shortened, some names were originaly longer, like del la Garza, Del Rio, ect.

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As for male first names, most of them have Jose as a first name and go by their middle name (same with Maria on women). Sometimes, they may have Maria as a middle name and go by their first name. Popular-popularish names would be Jose, Blas, Antonio, Jorge, Rafael, Juan, Manuel, Francisco, Luis, Miguel, Domingo, Pedro, Ignacio, Ramon, Tomas, Santiago, Marcelo. These ones constantly pop up when looking at 1800s Mexican historical records. If you want something real Mexican, use Guadalupe. I've heard Jose Guadalupe is a name that is a common traditional name in Mexico specifically. Theres also other religious ones like Jose Santos, Jose Maria and Jose Natividad.

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This message was edited 4/8/2024, 4:52 PM

I'm not knowledgeable about 19th century Mexico, but FYI you can find interesting historic names using findagrave.com (you could put in the cemetery location as Mexico, make up a year of birth and select +/-25 years).

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Here is an example search:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/search?firstname=&middlename=&lastname=&birthyear=1800&birthyearfilter=25&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&location=Mexico&locationId=country_45&memorialid=&mcid=&linkedToName=&datefilter=&orderby=r&plot=&page=1#sr-216144037

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Some names that came up (born 1775-1825 and buried in Mexico) were Indalecio, Catarino, Sinforoso, Basilio, Ignacio, Ponciano, Epitacio, Silvestre, Alexandre, Gabino, Casimiro, Luciano, Quirino, Eustaquio, Vicente, Cenobio...

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I sort of like Cenobio, Catarino, Casimiro, or Indalecio for a character. Jose, Diego, Manuel, Antonio would have been more common, though.

This message was edited 4/8/2024, 8:48 AM

For the 1880's, I would stick with very traditonal names. Since most Hispanic people are Roman Catholic, many first names are those of saints. Here are some suggestions:

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Jose
Luis
Miguel
Joaquin
Pedro
Martin
Antonio
Fernando
Nicolas
Alejandro
Gabriel
Andres
Tomas
Pablo
Marcos
Javier
Rafael
Mateo
Felipe
Daniel
Juan
Carlos
Salvador
Manuel

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Surnames

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Morales
Rodriquez
Lopez
Fernandez
Martin
Ruiz
Vasquez
Hernandez
Alonso
Sanchez
Garcia
Ramos
Perez
Blanco
Diaz
Serrano
Gonzalez
Novarro
Torres
Dominquez
Aquilar
Flores

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For the most authenticity, you should use accents that I haven't added in some of the names above. Also, Hispanic people often have two surnames due to the fact that they take their mother's surname and their father's last name (eg. Maria Novarro married Joaquin Flores and they had a son named Javier. His full name would be Javier Flores Novarro.

This message was edited 4/8/2024, 5:50 PM

This is a Facts not Opinions question......