New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesRe: Bernal
in reply to a message by Jim Young
I read your response and I was wondering since I am Hispanic, how can this name come from a Germanic name? Does this mean that this surname was not originally a Spanish surname? If so, how did it get to Latin America?
1
Replies
Germanic names were found all over Western Europe, a consequence of migration by Germanic peoples; Lombards to Northern Italy, Goths to Spain, etc. Guzmán, Gutiérrez, Rodríguez, Ramirez, are all of Germanic origin. That doesn't make them German, or make their bearers descendants of Goths. Spanish migrants to Latin America took their names and their language with them.
1