Basque surnames

Basque surnames can be divided into two main types, patronymic and non-patronymic.

The patronymics such as Munioitz, Santxez or Santxitz, and Diaitz (Spanish spellings: Muñoz, Sánchez, and Díaz) are the most common and ancient. The Basque monarchy, including the first king of Pamplona, Iñigo Iñigitz, or Eneko Aritza, were the first to use this type of surname. Patronymics are by far the most common surnames in the whole of the Basque Autonomic Community and Navarra.

The non-patronyic surnames are often toponymic ones that refer to the family's etxea, the historically all important family home. When a farm (baserri) was rented to another family, often the new tenants were known locally by the farm name rather than by their officially registered surname. They also referred to the profession of the head of the family such as Olaberria (new smith) or Salaberria (new farm/farmer) or could describe where their home was such as Elizondo (by the church).

The earliest documented Basque surnames occur on Aquitanian inscriptions from the time of the Roman conquest of Hispania and Gallia Aquitania. For the most part these can be easily identified with modern or medieval Basque surnames, for example ENNECONIS (the personal name Eneko plus the Latin genitive ending -IS, stem augmented by -N) > Enekoitz.

Also SEMBECONNIS, possibly a derivative of the later surname Jimenez (Scemeno attested in the 8–9th century). V(alerius) BELTESONIS (probable coinage from beltz 'black', less likely linked to bele/bela 'crow') engraved on the stella of Andriarriaga located in Oiartzun bears witness to a mixture of Roman and Vasconic tradition in the local aristocracy during the Antiquity.

García, one of the most frequent Spanish surnames, was originally a Basque first name stemming from Basque gartzea, 'the young'. Medieval Basque names follow this descriptive naming pattern about the person, pointing to physical features ("Gutia", "Motza", "Okerra", "Ezkerro", "Zuria", etc.), family relations or geographical origin, e.g. Eneko (Spanish Íñigo) may be a hypocoristic mother-to-child addressing, 'my little'.

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